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Art  in  Buffalo 

BY 

Lars  Gustaf  Sellstedt 


MCMX 

THE  MATTHEWS-NORTHRUP  WORKS 
BUFFALO 


Copyright,  1910, 
By  Lars  Gustaf  Sellstedt 


IHt  GETTY  CENTti. 


PROLOGUE 
If  the  following  pages  have  any  historic  value, 
or  are  found  to  be  of  any  interest  to  the  lovers 
of  art  or  to  the  general  public,  thanks  are  due  to 
Mr.  James  N.  Johnston,  a  friend  of  all  the 
Muses,  without  whose  encouraging  importunity 
they  probably  never  would  have  been  written. 
True  it  is,  that  the  writer  has  long  had  it  in 
mind  to  leave  behind  him  some  kind  of  record 
of  his  familiarity  with  Buffalo's  early  art  and 
artists;  but,  owing  to  his  more  urgent  duties, 
the  inception  has  been  allowed  to  remain  in 
abeyance  until  the  "more  convenient  season," 
a  time  which  seldom  comes.  No  one  is  more  pain- 
fully aware  of  the  imperfection  of  the  work  than 
the  writer.  The  principal  purpose  was  to  keep  in 
vivid  memory  things  concerning  the  early  art  of 
the  city  which  now  are  fast  fading  into  utter 
oblivion;  but  the  subject  ''grew  by  what  it  fed 
upon,"  and  what  was  first  intended  to  be  only 
data  for  the  future  historian,  increased  till  it 
embraced  a  general  review  of  Buffalo's  art  up  to 
the  present  day,  as  far  as  the  writer's  memory 
(in  want  of  early  authorities,  if  any  existed) 
could  assist  him. 

[  3  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


In  recording  the  facts  concerning  the  Buffalo 
Fine  Arts  Academy,  the  author  has  been  greatly 
assisted  by  an  earlier  work,  **The  Buffalo  Fine 
Arts  Academy,  A  Historical  Sketch,  Compiled 
by  Willis  O.  Chapin,"  and  especially  by  Mrs. 
Sellstedt's  scrap-book,  in  which  nearly  all 
published  matter  concerning  the  institution 
was  preserved. 


[    4  ] 


INTRODUCTORY 
Although  the  development  of  the  love  of  the 
fine  arts  and  their  culture  as  a  refining  element 
in  a  city  devoted  to  commerce,  but  with  lofty 
aspirations,  is  the  writer's  main  purpose,  justice 
to  the  subject  would  seem  to  require  a  glance  at 
the  material  circumstances  and  at  the  actors 
that  made  possible  the  city's  evolution  from 
ordinary  and  commonplace  nature  to  umbra- 
geous streets,  noble  edifices  filled  with  articles  of 
virtu,  and  choice  intellectual  and  artistic  prod- 
ucts redolent  of  an  atmosphere  of  elegance  and 
refinement,  and  which  also  gave  to  the  city  its 
magnificent  parks  with  their  crowning  glory — 
the  Albright  Art  Gallery — where  the  Buffalo 
Fine  Arts  Academy,  after  many  changes  and 
vicissitudes,  has  at  last  found  a  permanent 
home. 

Siirely,  it  w^ere  fitting  that  Joseph  Warren 
and  William  Dorsheimer,  in  bronze  or  marble, 
should  from  some  prominent  point  look  down 
upon  the  fruits  of  their  prophetic  imagination. 

The  projectors  of  such  daring  aesthetical 
innovations  did  not  get  their  ideas  into  a  con- 
crete form  without  much  opposition;  they  did 

[  5  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


not  belong  to  the  wealthy  class  of  our  citizens, 
but  they  were  foresighted  men  of  culture  and 
high  ideals  whose  prominence  and  social  influ- 
ence were  always  to  be  reckoned  with.  Some, 
whose  chief  aim  was  the  gratification  of  their 
physical  nature,  or  of  adding  dollar  to  dollar, 
looked  on  the  scheme  as  an  unnecessary  tax- 
increaser;  one  of  their  wealthy  friends  even 
remarking,  when  the  subject  was  talked  of  in 
his  presence,  that  they  lay  awake  nights  to 
find  out  how  to  spend  other  people's  money.  In 
the  meantime  a  great  landscape  architect,  the 
wizard  Olmsted,  was  invited  to  look  over  the 
ground,  with  the  result  that  the  swaley  swamp 
through  which  the  sluggish  Conjockety  Creek 
meandered  was  converted  into  a  glorious  land- 
scape with  a  beautiful  lake,  environed  by  arbo- 
real and  horticultural  wealth,  to  the  delight  of 
all,  both  young  and  old,  of  this  and  future 
generations. 


[  6  ] 


I 

Until  the  beginning  of  the  second  decade  of 
city  Hfe,  Buffalo  was  as  void  of  reliable  annals 
of  its  art  as  the  cliff-dwellers  of  Arizona  of 
those  of  their  origin.  All  that  is  known  is  that  at 
an  early  day  it  contained  four  portrait-painters, 
and  that  a  goodly  number  of  its  citizens  were 
willing  and  able  to  pay  the  price  of  a  stunted 
immortality  in  oil.  Were  it  not  for  the  remaining 
fruits  of  those  artists'  skill,  and  that  their  names 
are  embalmed  in  the  sporadically  published 
directories  of  the  time,  the  historian  of  Buffalo's 
art  would  be  at  his  wits'  end  in  searching  for 
material. 

According  to  the  New  York  Gazetteer,  pub- 
lished in  Albany  in  1842,  the  census  of  1840 
gave  Buffalo  a  population  of  18,213,  while  that 
of  New  York  City  and  county  was  312,710. 

When  the  size  and  age  of  the  city  is  taken 
into  account,  it  will  be  seen  that  portrait-paint- 
ers, at  least,  had  small  cause  to  complain  of 
want  of  patronage,  since  in  a  place  of  less  than 
20,000  inhabitants  four  resident  artists,  and 
doubtless  others  of  whom  no  record  is  left,  could 
find   profitable   employment.    The  ntmierous 

[    7  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


portraits  of  our  early  settlers,  still  to  be  seen  on 
the  walls  of  their  descendants  or  relegated  to  the 
portrait  gallery  of  the  Buffalo  Historical  So- 
ciety, are  here  in  evidence. 

Indeed,  there  was  little  else  but  portrait 
work  to  keep  an  artist  from  starving  outside  of 
the  older  cities  on  the  seaboard;  landscape 
painting  was  at  a  low  ebb  ever3rwhere.  It  was 
later  revived  by  Mr.  Thomas  Cole,  an  English 
painter,  whose  headquarters  must  have  been  in 
Albany  when  he  painted  those  two  remarkable 
series  of  poetic  landscapes  which  have  gained 
national  reputation:  ''The  Course  of  Empires,'* 
and  ''The  Voyage  of  Life,"  later  the  property 
of  the  New  York  Historical  Society.  He  also 
painted  from  nature  scenes  on  the  Hudson  River. 
That  he  must  have  been  sincerely  devoted  to  his 
art  the  following  anecdote  proves ;  the  late  Mr. 
Frederick  S.  Church,  his  distinguished  pupil, 
being  authority  for  it.  They  were  in  a  boat  on 
the  Hudson  for  the  double  purpose  of  studying 
and  fishing,  both  having  their  painting  materials 
with  them.  While  thus  occupied,  their  fishing 
lines  were  left  out  with  only  moderate  success. 
While  Mr.  Cole  was  absorbed  in  the  study  of  a 
fine  sunset,  his  witty  pupil,  naturally  prone  to 

[  8  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


joking,  drew  in  his  master's  line  and  affixed  a 
dead  fish  to  the  hook,  having  first  painted  it 
with  the  bright  colors  on  his  palette,  then  he 
put  it  back  into  the  water.  Soon  after  he  ex- 
claimed, **Mr.  Cole,  I  think  there  is  a  fish  on 
your  hook."  The  old  artist  at  once  began  to  pull 
in  and  seemed  quite  excited  at  his  catch,  but 
taking  it  up  to  unhook  he  noticed  the  strange 
coloring,  ''Dear  me,"  he  said,  "this  must  be  a 
new  species  of  fish  for  I  never  saw  the  like 
before."  Just  then,  looking  at  his  hands  and 
finding  them  smeared  with  paint,  he  dropped 
the  fish  and  without  a  word  quietly  returned  to 
his  study. 

Besides  scenes  from  the  Hudson,  other 
points  farther  west  seem  to  have  been  attrac- 
tions for  his  brush,  for  he  also  made  a  painting 
of  the  Genesee  Falls  near  Glen  Iris,  that  spot  of 
beauty  now  belonging  to  the  State  through  the 
princely  generosity  of  our  former  president  of 
the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy,  the  Hon. 
William  Pryor  Letchworth,  who,  besides  his 
other  altruistic  labors,  had  found  time  to  be 
of  so  great  assistance  in  the  development  of  art 
in  our  city. 

The  better  class  of  the  early  Buffalonians 
[  9  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


were  mostly  from  New  England  or  other  of  the 
older  Eastern  States,  a  moral,  church-going 
people  of  general  intelligence  and  culttire;  in 
matters  of  art,  those  who  were  not  ignorant  were 
conservative,  adhering  to  the  ideas  of  their 
forefathers  that  the  fine  arts  were  luxuries  that 
might  easily  be  dispensed  with — at  least  ''till 
a  more  convenient  season."  Nevertheless,  they 
brought  from  their  Eastern  homes,  besides  their 
kitchen  utensils,  furniture,  and  penates,  their 
parlor  ornaments  as  well.  Thus  it  came  to  pass 
that  occasionally  meritorious  works  of  art  were 
to  be  found  in  their  houses.  The  writer  even 
remembers  to  have  seen  a  fine  portrait  by  the 
celebrated  Gilbert  Stuart  in  a  sailor  boarding- 
house,  of  the  landlord,  one  Captain  Black,  a 
former  shipmaster  from  Massachusetts,  who  in 
his  youth  had  been  a  pupil  of  the  great  portrait- 
painter  and  who,  judging  from  an  accompanying 
likeness  of  his  wife  by  himself,  showed  no  small 
advance  in  art. 

The  writer  can  also  recall  other  paintings 
of  sufficient  interest  to  merit  the  attention  of 
an  art  critic.  It  is  true,  his  knowledge  of  the 
requirements  of  good  art  was  at  the  time  quite 
inadequate  to  judge  either  of  its  financial  value 

[   10  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


or  of  its  artistic  merit,  but  more  than  three 
score  years  of  art  study  to  which  he  has  devoted 
his  life  must  indeed  have  been  spent  in  vain  if 
he  be  incompetent  to  give  a  reasonably  correct 
idea  of  the  dif¥erence  between  a  fairly  good 
work  of  art  and  a  daub,  and  his  opinion  is  not 
based  entirely  on  immature  judgment,  for  some 
of  the  pictures  referred  to  are  still  hanging  in 
the  dwellings  of  the  grandchildren. 

Before  their  destruction  by  fire  in  the  old 
city  building,  many  interesting,  and  among  them 
some  good,  portraits  of  the  earlier  makers  of 
Buffalo  were  seen.  Most,  if  not  all,  were  por- 
traits of  former  mayors.  While  his  modest  salary 
was  twelve  hundred  dollars,  the  reigning  mayor 
was  expected  to  disburse  it  all,  or  nearly  all, 
for  his  counterfeit  presentment  in  oil,  to  become 
public  property,  the  honor  of  the  office  being 
held  in  those  primitive  times  sufficient  reward 
for  his  services. 

Many  of  these  portraits  were  by  Mr.  A.  G.  D. 
Tuthill,  an  Englishman  who  had  studied  art 
under  Benjamin  West.  He  had  many  good  quali- 
ties as  an  artist,  such  as  careful  and  correct 
design  and  natural  coloring,  though  a  certain 
primness  and  stiffness  of  pose  often  marred  his 

[  11  1 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


work.  Others  were  by  Jackson,  whose  portraits 
are  readily  recognized  by  sharpness  of  outline 
and  minute  attention  to  dress  and  detail,  espe- 
cially in  his  women;  they  probably  were  what 
in  those  days,  before  the  discovery  of  Daguerre, 
were  considered  very  good  likenesses.  Of  the 
portraits  by  Mr.  Carnard  Carpenter,  the  fourth 
of  the  quartette  before  mentioned,  little  is 
known;  but  that  he  had  good  qualities  as  an 
artist,  a  sign  over  a  tobacco  shop  on  Main  Street, 
which  was  much  admired,  said  to  be  his  work, 
proved  him  to  have  been  artistically  clever. 
The  sign  represented  four  smokers  enjoying  the 
weed.  It  may  have  been  a  copy,  but  certainly  it 
was  a  good  piece  of  color.  One  or  two  by  Mr. 
Wilgus,  of  whom  more  hereafter,  were  among 
his  best  works  and  superior  to  all.  These  painters 
were  far  ahead  in  their  art  of  the  common 
limners  that  perambulated  the  country,  whose 
paintings  seemed  to  have  had  no  other  merit 
than  to  prove  that  their  owners  had  progenitors, 
male  and  female. 

Among  the  artists  of  this  period  that  were 
not  residents  of  the  city,  Mr.  Alva  Bradish 
deserves  prominent  mention.  Nothing  is  known 
by  the  writer  of  his  early  history  except  that, 

[  12  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


judging  from  some  work  of  his  younger  days,  he 
gave  a  promise  of  excellence  which  was  not 
fulfilled,  though  this  probably  was  owing  to  the 
necessity  of  providing  for  a  large  family,  render- 
ing haste  obligatory,  rather  than  lack  of  knowl- 
edge. Mr.  Bradish  was  an  educated  gentleman, 
well  connected  and  thoroughly  conversant  with 
all  that  might  be  learned  from  art  literature. 
For  many  years  he  filled  the  chair  of  professor 
of  fine  arts  in  the  University  of  Michigan.  He 
was  a  rapid  painter  and  must  have  been  the 
author  of  a  prodigious  number  of  portraits, 
especially  in  the  western  portion  of  the  country, 
where  he  painted  full-length  pictures  of  several 
governors  and  other  dignitaries.  His  home  was 
in  Fredonia,  whence  he  used  to  make  occasional 
professional  visits  to  Buffalo  and  the  surrounding 
country. 

Perhaps  the  most  noteworthy  event  in  Buf- 
falo's early  art-history  was  the  return  of  a  youth 
of  eighteen  to  the  city  from  the  studio  of  Presi- 
dent Samuel  F.  B.  Morse,  of  the  National 
Academy  of  New  York,  where  he  had  spent 
three  years  in  faithful  study.  William  John 
Wilgus,  than  whom  Buffalo  never  had  a  painter 
more  accomplished  in  the  technique  of  his 

[    13  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


profession,  established  himself  in  a  studio  in 
the  building  recently  removed  to  give  place  for 
the  offices  of  the  American  Express  Company, 
corner  of  Main  and  Erie  streets.  The  portraits 
that  he  painted  while  located  there  during  the 
last  three  years  of  the  third  and  the  two  first 
of  the  fourth  decade  of  the  last  century,  were 
greatly  superior  to  any  painted  in  Buffalo  at 
the  time.  Such  excellent  work  from  a  youth 
of  eighteen  gave  growing  hopes  to  his  friends  and 
admirers  of  a  brilliant  future  which,  had  he 
not  been  handicapped  by  failing  health,  would 
doubtless  have  matured.  His  death  took  place 
in  Buffalo,  after  some  years  spent  in  Southern 
climates,  in  his  thirty-fourth  year. 

Among  his  best  works  were  a  number  of 
Cattaraugus  Indians,  painted  on  their  reserva- 
tion, nearly  all  of  which  were  destroyed  by  fire 
in  the  home  of  Caleb  Lyons  of  Lyonsdale,  Essex 
County,  to  whom  he  had  sold  them,  and  where 
they  had  been  a  choice  part  of  the  collection  of 
this  eccentric  but  cultivated  gentleman,  scholar, 
and  poet. 

In  1842,  Bulfalo  had  emerged  from  the 
depression  caused  by  the  collapse  following  the 
speculating  mania  of  the  early  thirties,  and  the 

[    14  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


subsequent  business  disturbances  caused  by  the 
failure  of  the  United  States  Bank.  On  the  docks 
business  was  brisk;  they  were  cumbered  with 
apples,  stoves,  hollowware,  and  railroad  iron 
ready  for  shipment  to  Cleveland,  Chicago,  Mil- 
waukee, Detroit,  and  other  Western  cities; 
wheat  and  flour  being  the  return  freights  in  the 
small  sailing  craftj!  that  crowded  the  harbor; 
while  steamboats  gaily  decorated  in  gorgeous 
colors  plied  up  and  down  the  lakes  in  the 
passenger  business,  then  the  swiftest  mode  of 
reaching  the  Far  West.  Art,  also,  generally  in 
the  form  of  portraiture,  was  in  a  fairly  flourishing 
condition,  and  was,  especially  among  ladies,  a 
subject  of  conversation  and  care. 

Naturally,  the  beautiful  art  which  came 
from  the  refined  nature  and  skilled  hand  of 
young  Wilgus  brought  fruit  in  orders,  to  which, 
perhaps,  the  uncommon  beauty  and  gentle  man- 
ners of  the  artist  not  a  little  contributed.  But  he 
was  not  without  a  rival.  There  was  a  difference 
of  opinion  among  the  would-be  connoisseurs, 
the  majority,  perhaps,  adhering  to  Mr.  Wilgus ; 
while  some  were  greatly  taken  up  with  the  work 
of  a  man  by  the  name  of  Gale,  whose  pretentious 
claims  and  flamboyant  pictures  impressed  the 

[  15  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


ignorant,  although  they  were  utterly  lacking  in 
true  artistic  value;  but,  though  il^ drawn  and 
meretriciously  colored,  they  were  large  in  size 
and  gorgeous  in  reds  and  yellows. 

Mr.  Gale's  genius  was  not  satisfied  with  so 
low  a  form  of  art  as  portraits ;  he  affected  history 
also.  The  writer  remembers  an  exhibition  of 
two  of  his  chefs-d'oeuvre  in  the  old  American 
Hall:  Adam  and  Eve  in  paradise,  and  poor  old 
Job  prostrate  and  equally  void  of  covering, 
^  unless  the  numerous  boils  in  various  stages  of 
/  growth  with  which  the  body  was  decorated 
I  might  be  thus  designated.  Mr.  Gale's  career  was 
^"^oiot  of  long  continuance,  a  cloud  covered  his  dis- 
appearance from  the  city  and  he  was  never 
heard  of  more. 

While  awakening  the  memories  of  these 
departed  days,  the  writer  recalls  the  scruples  of 
conscience  that  agitated  him  sometimes.  Had  he 
done  right  to  adopt  art  as  a  profession?  Cut 
Bono?  In  the  light  of  youth  and  ignorance,  art 
appeared  wholly  an  expression  of  sensuous 
beauty.  Was  it  worth  the  sacrifice  of  a  life? 
True,  his  first  attempt,  a  death-bed  scene, 
seemed  a  denial  of  this  postulate;  but  was  not 
even  that  but  a  tribute  to  a  semi-poetic  tempera- 

[  16  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


ment  without  religious  or  altruistic  base?  He 
felt  the  beauty  of  pathos,  color  and  line,  but 
even  if  success  had  attended  the  work,  it  would 
have  had  no  higher  motive.  He  had  yet  to  learn 
that  art's  perfect  ideal  requires  the  union  of  these 
at  least  in  its  most  exalted  form,  and  that  its 
mission,  whether  expressed  in  stone,  color,  tone, 
or  poetic  frenzy,  is  to  drag  the  soul  out  of  the 
mucky  mire  of  earth  into  the  pure  life-giving 
atmosphere  of  worthy  aspiration. 

That  the  exhibition  of  Mr.  Gale's  two  afore- 
said paintings  could  have  had  any  measure  of 
success  is  hardly  creditable  to  our  city's  idea  of 
art  at  the  time,  though  perhaps  a  sort  of  side- 
show may  have  been  the  principal  attraction. 
This  was  the  work  of  a  young  man  from  Canada, 
and  consisted  of  some  beautiful  wood  carvings, 
representing  Noah's  ark  with  its  animals  as 
described  in  the  biblical  account  of  the  flood, 
which  were  greatly  admired.  The  young  sculptor 
was  a  brother  of  our  deeply  mourned  and 
deservedly  remembered  Amos  W.  Sangster,  a 
self-instructed  painter  and  etcher,  too  modest 
to  claim  the  position  in  art  to  which  his  quiet 
studio  work  entitled  him. 

Another  excellent  artist  whose  works  demand 
[  17  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


a  green  memory  in  the  annals  of  Buffalo's  art 
was  James  M.  Dickenson,  a  miniature  painter, 
whose  work  equaled  the  best  in  that  branch  of 
art.  A  fine  portrait  of  Major-General  Peter  B. 
Porter  painted  by  him  has  been  copied  in  oil, 
life  size,  and  generously  donated  to  our  Histori- 
cal Society  by  his  daughter,  the  late  Miss  Eliza- 
beth L.  Porter,  of  Niagara  Falls.  Though  the 
writer  never  made  the  acquaintance  of  Mr. 
Dickenson  he  saw  him  often  and  well  remem- 
bers his  appearance  as  he  walked  the  streets 
of  our  city,  a  rather  undersized  old  gentleman 
with  silver  locks  and  wrapped  in  a  blue  cloak. 

On  his  return  from  Mayaguez,  Porto  Rico, 
where  he  had  spent  a  profitable  winter,  Mr. 
Wilgus  took  a  studio  in  New  York,  which  left 
Buffalo  without  a  resident  artist  worthy  of  note, 
during  which  time  there  seems  to  have  been  a 
lull  in  the  interest  for  art — the  desire  to  look 
into  the  intangible  mysteries  of  hypnotism,  or, 
as  it  was  then  called,  animal  magnetism,  to  a 
considerable  extent  supplying  its  place.  In 
occasional  exhibitions  of  pictures,  however,  the 
writer  remembers  a  large  canvas,  "The  Open- 
ing of  the  Seventh  Seal,"  by  Benjamin  West, 
and  a  full-sized  copy  in  oil  of  Leonardo  da 

[    18  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Vinci's  "Last  Supper  "  ;  both  were  exhibited  in 
churches.  He  also  recalls  two  excellent  por- 
traits by  Wilgus  on  exhibition  in  his  father's 
book-store,  one  a  three-quarter  length  of  an 
Indian  called  Captain  Cole,  the  other  a  superb 
portrait  of  the  late  Mr.  Joseph  G.  Norton,  one  of 
Buffalo's  most  prominent  citizens. 

In  the  meantime  the  writer  had  ventured  to 
offer  himself  to  the  public  as  a  painter  of  por- 
traits and  had  taken  a  studio  on  Seneca  Street 
near  Main,  where  he  painted  a  ntimber  of  por- 
traits, such  as  they  were,  his  customers  being  of 
a  class  that  did  not  ask  for  too  great  a  degree  of 
excellence.  Here  he  divided  his  time  between 
painting,  dissecting  in  the  new  medical  college 
near  by,  and  studying  anatomy  and  art  litera- 
ture in  his  lonely  evenings  by  a  single  tallow 
candle.  Ah!  more  light  is  now  required  since 
gas  and  electricity  have  spoiled  our  eyes. 


[   19  ] 


II 

T  HE  arrival  of  Mr.  Thomas  Le  Clear,  in  1847, 
gave  new  impetus  to  art  —  to  portrait-painting 
at  least.  Mr.  Le  Clear  was  a  native  of  Owego. 
His  early  studies  had  been  under  Mr.  Bradish, 
but  later  he  had  been  a  pupil  of  Henry  Inman, 
at  that  time  New  York's  most  popular  portrait- 
painter,  in  whose  studio  he  had  acquired  not 
only  a  first-class  technique  and  grace  of  pose  of 
the  sitter,  but  many  other  elements  which  go 
to  make  up  an  excellent  artist.  Almost  as  soon 
as  he  found  a  studio,  the  writer  received  a  call 
from  him,  and  the  first  encouraging  words  from 
a  real  artist. 

The  return  of  Mr.  Wilgus  to  Buffalo  in  the 
same  year  found  his  former  studio  occupied  by 
the  writer,  who  gladly  exchanged  it  for  a  smaller 
and  less  convenient  one  to  please  his  friend,  for 
a  friendship  had  already  sprung  up  between 
them  which  became  an  intimacy  only  to  cease  by 
death  five  years  later.  William  John  Wilgus  was 
the  uncle  of  the  distinguished  engineer,  later  one 
of  the  vice-presidents  of  the  New  York  Central 
Railroad,  who  was  named  after  him.  He  was 
born  in  Troy,  whence  his  father  moved  to  Buf- 

[  20  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

falo  when  his  son  was  nine  years  of  age.  In  New 
York,  at  Mr.  Morse's  school,  he  formed  an  inti- 
macy with  the  late  Daniel  Huntington,  for  many 
years  president  of  the  National  Academy  of 
Design,  who  was  a  fellow  pupil  with  him.  A 
short  time  before  Mr.  Huntington's  death,  the 
writer  called  on  him,  when  the  conversation 
turned  on  Mr.  Wilgus.  ''Ah!"  said  the  old 
gentleman,  '*  I  remember  him  well,  he  was  very 
talented ;  he  painted  a  very  fine  portrait  of  me, 
which  I  am  very  sorry  to  have  lost." 

Mr.  Wilgus  did  not  remain  in  the  city  long  at 
this  time,  the  condition  of  his  health  appearing 
to  require  a  Southern  climate.  On  his  return,  in 
1849,  found  his  old  studio  occupied;  but  he 
caused  a  large  and  commodious  one  to  be  con- 
structed, which,  after  his  death,  in  1853,  was 
taken  by  Le  Clear. 

In  proof  that  Mr.  Wilgus  was  not  confined 
in  his  art  to  portrait-painting  alone,  may  be 
instanced  two  remarkable  landscapes,  one  a 
scene  in  Mayaguez,  Porto  Rico,  and  the  other, 
''Chautauqua  Lake  by  Moonlight";  and  also 
his  himiorous  representation  from  Irving's  story 
of  Ichabod  Crane,  painted  at  the  age  of  fifteen 
in  Mr.  Morse's  studio,  which  was  later  made 

[  21  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


popular  by  a  reproduction  in  oil  printing  said 
to  have  been  the  earliest  specimen  of  chromo 
work  in  our  city  under  Mr.  Hemming's  direc- 
tion. 

The  appearance  of  William  H.  Beard,  in  1851, 
and  the  return  from  Europe  of  Matthew  Wilson, 
an  English  gentleman  who  had  begun  to  study 
art  in  Buffalo,  coming  back  fresh  from  the  studio 
of  Couture  in  Paris,  produced  a  sort  of  revival  of 
art,  three  portrait-painters  competing  for  the 
lucre  if  not  the  honor.  To  these  may  be  added 
the  appearance  of  Augustus  Rockwell  and 
Joseph  Meeker;  and  later  a  young  and  gifted 
artist  by  the  name  of  Libby,  whose  pictures  in 
genre,  painted  with  great  care  from  models, 
gave  promise  of  a  future  eminence  which  only 
his  early  death  prevented.  Mr.  Rockwell  had 
considerable  success  as  a  painter  of  portraits, 
and  he  also  painted  acceptable  landscapes, 
chiefly  from  studies  in  the  Adirondack  Wilder- 
ness made  on  fishing  and  hunting  excursions. 
The  writer  has  no  knowledge  of  where  he  studied 
his  art  nor  the  place  of  his  birth.  His  gentle  man- 
ners and  honorable  conduct  made  him  a  great 
favorite  of  all  who  came  within  the  circle  of  his 
acquaintance.  Perhaps  the  best  example  of  his 

[  22  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

art  is  the  excellent  likeness  of  the  late  ex-Presi- 
dent Fillmore,  painted  a  short  time  before  that 
gentleman's  death,  now  the  property  of  the 
Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy. 

Mr.  Rockwell's  sudden  death,  in  1880,  as  he 
was  entering  his  house  on  Linwood  Avenue,  was 
a  great  shock  to  his  friends  and,  we  may  add,  to 
the  whole  city,  as  he  was  well  known  and  uni- 
versally respected.  Mr.  A.  B.  Nimbs,  a  pupil  of 
Wilgus,  and  Albert  W.  Samuels,  who  studied 
under  Le  Clear,  also  belong  to  this  period ;  both 
painted  portraits. 

Up  to  this  time  no  regular  school  of  art  had 
been  formed  in  the  city,  but  there  arrived  an  old 
and  experienced  actor  who,  besides  his  duty  as 
stage-manager  of  the  Eagle  Street  Theater, 
found  time  to  conduct  a  school  for  landscape 
painting,  having  himself  taken  lessons  in  that 
branch  of  art  from  the  late  Mr.  Cropsey  of  New 
York.  His  stage  name,  by  which  he  was  known 
at  the  time,  was  Andrew  Andrews,  his  real  name 
being  Isaacs.  By  birth  he  was  a  Hebrew,  of 
Jamaica.  He  was  one  of  the  most  liberal  of  men 
and  exceedingly  companionable.  His  capacity  as 
artist,  limited  wholly  to  the  imitation  or  copying 
of  prints,  consisted  in  a  very  neat  and  artistic 

[  23  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


touch  of  foliage  in  the  style  of  his  quondam 
instructor.  He  painted  with  great  rapidity,  being 
able  to  cover  a  large  canvas  with  quite  a  remark- 
able landscape  in  a  day,  a  celerity  which  he 
modestly  attributed  to  spiritual  aid,  in  which 
he  fully  believed.  His  class  in  painting  was  quite 
large,  often  as  many  as  thirty  pupils,  mostly 
society  ladies  who  filled  their  walls  with  their  own 
pictures,  every  one  of  which  received  the  finish- 
ing touches  from  the  instructor's  own  hand.  If 
a  figure  was  wanted,  either  Mr.  Beard  or  the 
writer,  who  often  visited  the  school,  was  asked 
to  supply  it.  It  was  here  that  Buffalo's  distin- 
guished artist,  Charles  C.  Coleman,  now  of  Capri, 
being  then  a  boy,  got  his  first  lessons  in  painting. 

Notwithstanding  the  shortcomings  of  An- 
drews, well  understood  by  his  artist  friends,  he 
was  a  great  favorite  among  them.  On  one  occa- 
sion, when  he  was  to  play  Benedick  for  his 
benefit,  all  his  brother  painters  appeared  in  a 
box  together.  He  had,  as  a  stage-manager, 
incurred  the  displeasiire  of  some  of  the  actors 
and  feared  that  he  might  need  protectors  after 
the  play.  It  was  a  j^talwart  lot  that  occupied  the 
stage  box  that  evening,  and  fun  was  looked  for. 

At  the  end  of  the  play.  Benedick  was  called 

[    24  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


out  to  speak,  upon  which  he  addressed  the  audi- 
ence with  the  assurance  of  an  old  hero  of  the 
buskin.  His  remarks  ended  with  a  defiance  to  his 
enemies :  I  have  heard  that  I  am  to  be  assaulted 
this  evening,  but  I  would  have  my  enemies  know 
that  I  am  not  without  protectors,"  pointing  at 
the  same  time  up  to  the  box  where  his  artist 
friends  were  seated.  On  leaving  the  theater,  at 
the  stage  door  he  found  them,  each  provided 
with  a  stick,  at  either  side  of  the  outlet,  but  no 
enemy  appeared.  The  party  adjourned  to  a  cer- 
tain subterranean  saloon  under  the  American 
Hotel,  whence  they  did  not  emerge  till  the  small 
hours  of  the  morning. 

The  writer  cannot  consider  his  duty  as  histo- 
rian of  Buffalo's  Art  fulfilled  without  some 
grateful  allusion  to  the  benevolent  merchants 
who  furnished  the  most  needed  materials  for  its 
development.  Their  faith  in  the  future  of  their 
customers  was  indeed  without  bounds.  How  else 
could  impecunious  budding  genius  bring  fruit? 
Beefsteak  and  pie  might  sometimes  be  luxuries, 
and  even  bread  and  milk  were  not  always 
despised.  Lager-beer "  and  ''free  lunch"  were 
not  yet  to  be  had,  and  the  desire  for  any  stronger 
potation  than  cafe-au-lait  had  not  developed. 

[   25  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


The  cheapest  tobacco  could  fill  the  pipe  as  a 
solace  for  all  evils ;  but  canvas,  paints,  brushes, 
and  kindred  materials  must  be  had.  Here  it  was 
that  the  good,  confiding  Messrs.  Coleman,  who, 
in  addition  to  their  drug  store,  kept  artists' 
materials,  came  to  the  fore.  It  is  to  the  credit  of 
their  young  struggling  debtors,  whom  they 
never  dunned,  that  their  inability  to  make 
themselves  multi-millionaires  was  not  caused  by 
lack  of  artistic  honor.  Nay,  the  writer  recalls  a 
pleasant  evening  when  Mr.  William  Coleman 
made  a  feast  in  his  bachelor  apartment  to  the 
resident  artists,  presenting  at  the  close  of  the 
banquet  a  new  palette  to  each  of  the  guests; 
this  was  more  than  half  a  century  ago,  but  the 
souvenir  is  still  in  daily  use  in  the  writer's 
studio.  A  poem  written  for  the  occasion  by  Mr. 
Matthew  Wilson  is  considerately  spared  the 
reader,  but  the  writer  cannot  leave  the  subject 
without  a  description  of  the  most  beautiful  sum- 
mer night  that  ever  was  granted  to  the  city  of 
Buffalo  by  the  powers  above. 

''And  they  were  not  that  fou,"  either,  ''but 
just  a  drappy  in  their  ee."  When  they  left  their 
host  and  could  breathe  the  pure  air  again,  a 
most  beautiful  aurora  borealis  met  their  gaze. 

[  26  ] 


4 

ART    IN  BUFFALO 

From  the  zenith  a  complete  tent  of  iridescent 
colors  seemed  to  be  suspended  over  the  whole 
city.  Every  tint  of  the  prism  was  there,  shifting 
from  side  to  side  with  lightning  rapidity,  as  if 
the  angels  were  dancing  around  a  celestial  may- 
pole. After  enjoying  the  spectacle  to  the  end, 
the  merry  company  separated,  each  to  find  his 
own  keyhole. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  of  interest  to  the  young 
reader  to  know  that  the  flexible  tube  that  holds 
the  pigments  was  then  an  invention  less  than  a 
decade  old,  artists'  paints  theretofore  being  sold 
in  small  bladders  in  which  a  pinhole  was  pricked 
to  squeeze  the  paint  out,  a  method  generally  in 
use  in  Europe  as  late  as  1853.  The  invention  is 
said  to  have  been  by  a  Scotchman  in  the  employ 
of  Dechaux,  the  artists'  colorman  of  New  York. 

As  the  subject  of  art  was  becoming  popular 
and  public  attention  began  to  be  called  to  it, 
some  of  the  prominent  artists  thought  the  time 
ripe  to  form  an  association  on  the  lines  of  the 
New  York  National  Academy  of  Design,  with 
public  exhibitions  in  a  permanent  exhibition 
room.  The  result  of  their  cogitations  was  a  meet- 
ing called  by  Mr.  Matthew  Wilson,  who  was  not 
only  a  popular  artist  fresh  from  a  Paris  studio 

[    27  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


but  a  favorite  leader  in  society.  Mr.  George  W. 
Rounds,  agent  for  the  North  Western  Insurance 
Company,  and  Mr.  Wilson's  intimate  friend, 
offered  his  rooms  at  the  ''Phelps  House "  as  the 
place  of  meeting.  Those  present  were  Messrs. 
Thomas  Le  Clear,  William  H.  Beard,  Mr. 
Matthew  Wilson,  Mr.  Joseph  Meeker,  and  the 
writer.  All  seemed  to  be  in  harmony  and  ready 
with  their  support,  till  Mr.  Rounds,  who  also 
was  a  member  of  the  meeting,  rose  to  propose 
Mr.  Wilson  as  the  president  of  the  association. 
An  ominous  silence  followed,  broken  by  the 
present  recorder,  who  made  the  suggestion  that 
for  many  reasons  it  might  be  best  that  the 
president  should  not  be  one  of  the  artists,  but 
some  influential  and  willing  citizen,  as  not  only 
art  but  finances  too,  as  well  as  other  business 
requirements,  were  to  be  considered.  He  there- 
fore suggested  delay  in  appointing  officers.  Mr. 
Wilson  moved  to  adjourn,  and  nothing  more  was 
heard  of  an  art  association  till  the  Buffalo  Fine 
Arts  Academy  was  established  a  whole  decade 
later. 

Buffalo  had  passed  its  infancy  and  was 
putting  on  airs  as  a  city  of  some  consequence, 
and  fast  losing  its  village  habits.  A  hole  was 

[    28  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

bored  in  the  rocky  bottom  of  the  Niagara  River, 
which  was  made  to  contribute  of  its  Hmpid  cur- 
rent to  fire  protection  and  domestic  uses,  instead 
of  the  old  and  not  always  odorless  city  pumps, 
the  use  of  which  later,  for  hygienic  reasons,  was 
altogether  discontinued. 

Business  seemed  on  a  safe  footing,  and  the 
time  had  come  to  attend  to  things  less  tangible 
if  not  less  important.  Buffalonians  had  learned 
the  sweet  power  of  music  from  Jenny  Lind,  and 
even  Patti,  then  a  child  of  nine,  had  given 
promise  of  future  greatness ;  nor  was  the  city 
without  its  native  talent  and  indigenous  love 
for  music.  In  the  spirit  memory  of  the  writer 
there  lingers  yet  a  faint  echo  of  the  sweet  tones  of 
Albert  Bigelow  in  home  concerts.  Under  the  di- 
rection of  Everett  L.  Baker,  the  organist,  student 
and  pupil  of  old  Mr.  Barton,  organist  of  Trinity 
Church,  the  Saint  Cecilia  Society  was  formed, 
whose  sweet  concerted  voices  gratified  the  lovers 
of  song;  to  this  must  be  added  the  Liedertafel 
and  Mendelssohn  societies,  the  Christy  Minstrels, 
a  native  Buffalo  chorus,  and  first  heard  here; 
also  the  home  opera,  directed  by  that  versatile 
histrionic  sage,  Andrews.  Mr.  James  N.  John- 
ston's beautiful  tribute  to  home  poetry  proves 

[  29  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


that  neither  was  the  worship  of  Euterpe  nor  her 
graver  sisters  neglected. 

Painting,  sculpture,  and  architecture  were 
the  only  members  of  the  great  family  of  the 
Muses  that  were  yet  without  temple  or  congre- 
gation. Their  votaries  practiced  their  ^vocations 
with  zeal  and  energy  and  not  without  encour- 
agement; they  fraternized,  ate  and  drank,  and 
criticized  each  other  without  ill-feeling  or  rancor, 
though  art,  per  se,  was  seldom  the  theme  when 
at  their  pipes  or  simple  libations. 

No  general  public  exhibition  of  v/orks  of  art 
had  hitherto  obtained  in  Buffalo,  at  least  none 
worthy  of  record,  for  though  dealers  in  art  from 
New  York  and  elsewhere  brought  pictures  and 
articles  of  virtu  more  or  less — generally  less — 
genuine  to  Buffalo,  such  mercantile  ventures 
may  well  be  passed  by  as  they  added  little  to  its 
art  culture.  Exceptions  must  be  made,  however, 
to  Dubufe's  "Adam  and  Eve,"  exhibited  in 
McArthur's  Hall,  and  later  his  ''Prodigal  Son.'* 
They  were  beautiful  pictures,  both  in  composi- 
tion and  color,  good  specimens  of  the  French 
school  of  their  day,  when  realism  was  less  insisted 
on  than  later.  The  writer  remembers  sitting  near 
two  ladies  who  were  admiring  ''Adam  and  Eve 

[  30  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


in  Paradise,"  and  commenting  on  them.  Said 
one  to  the  other,  I  wonder  why  Adam  did  not 
stop  at  his  tailor's  on  his  way  from  the  bar- 
ber's!" alluding  to  the  carefully  groomed  locks 
of  our  supposed  progenitor. 


[  31  ] 


Ill 

As  the  fifth  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century- 
was  drawing  to  its  close,  the  pohtical  horizon 
began  to  be  darkened  with  storm-boding  clouds. 
True,  no  one  dreamed  of  the  extent  of  devas- 
tation they  were  destined  to  bring,  or  of  the 
lamentation  that  would  be  heard  throughout 
the  land  for  the  death  of  first-borns  before  the 
roaring  tempest  could  clear  the  sky  and  leave 
the  whole  country  to  breathe  the  pure  air  of 
perfect  freedom.  And  yet  few  believed  that  war 
would  really  come  till  the  echo  of  the  first  gun 
from  Fort  Simiter  reverberated  through  every 
part  of  the  United  States.  Up  to  this  time  there 
had  been  an  uneasiness  that  interfered  with  all 
kinds  of  peaceful  development,  and  in  which  art 
had  its  full  share,  which  at  once  gave  place  to  a 
feeling  that  all  other  interests  must  remain  in 
abeyance,  or  be  sacrificed  in  defense  of  the 
Union,  or  what  was  deemed  the  right. 

Perhaps  it  was  fortunate  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  art  spirit  of  Buffalo  and  the  conse- 
quent birth  of  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy 
that  it  was  coincident  with  the  beginning  of 
the  war  for  the  Union.  The  dormant  patriotism 

[  32  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

of  the  North  was  awakened  as  nothing  but  the 
defiance  of  the  slave  States  could  have  aroused 
it.  Many  were  willing  to  give  their  all  for  the 
safety  of  the  Union.  At  all  costs  the  rebellion 
must  be  crushed,  but  few  realized  at  what  cost. 
The  first  practical  lesson  came  from  Bull  Run. 
As  by  magic,  silver  and  gold  disappeared  from 
trade,  yet  money,  and  much  money,  must  be 
found  to  meet  the  exigencies.  It  is  to  the  honor 
of  Buffalo  that  its  representative  in  congress, 
Mr.  E.  G.  Spaulding,  chairman  of  ways  and 
means,  was  mainly  instrumental  in  financing  the 
enormous  undertaking  by  the  invention  of  green- 
backs, as  everything  indicated  a  long  and  san- 
guinary war ;  the  necessity  of  a  great  army,  and 
the  necessary  equipments  for  the  same,  brought 
about  a  business  movement  the  effect  of  which 
was  felt  in  every  department  of  industry.  An  era 
of  prosperity,  with  its  attendant  luxuries  and 
enjoyments,  took  the  place  of  despondency. 
Money  was  easily  made  and  spent  liberally; 
subscriptions  for  almost  any  altruistic  purpose 
were  made  without  murmur,  and  assistance  to 
the  Red  Cross  or  the  Sanitary  Association  in 
behalf  of  the  army  was  freely  given.  The  claim 
of  art,  too,  as  a  factor  in  culture  and  refining 

[   33  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


influences,  was  easily  recognized  and  generously 
met. 

Club  life  for  social  enjoyment  had  not  yet 
taken  root  in  the  city.  The  Buffalo  Club,  which 
was  organized  about  this  time  (1867),  became  of 
much  use  in  the  interest  of  art,  as  within  its 
comfortable  rooms  were  originated  and  dis- 
cussed many  practical  means  for  achieving 
success  in  art  matters. 

A  year  or  two  before  the  above  mentioned 
portents  had  made  their  appearance,  a  young 
man  came  from  Albany  to  this  city  to  become  a 
member  of  the  editorial  staff  of  the  Buffalo 
Courier.  At  first  he  was  the  city  editor,  but 
being  a  man  of  high  culture  and  strict  sense  of 
honor,  and  endowed  by  nature  with  an  uncom- 
mon amount  of  good  sense  and  breadth  of  judg- 
ment, he  soon  became  editor-in-chief,  and  sub- 
sequently a  principal  owner  and  sole  manager 
of  the  whole  important  establishment.  This  was 
Joseph  Warren,  a  gentleman  whose  influence 
could  always  be  depended  on  for  the  promotion 
of  any  good  and  useful  work — material,  ethical, 
assthetical,  or  intellectual — in  the  city.  How 
much  the  lingering  life  of  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts 
Academy  owes  to  his  encouragement,  generous 

[  34  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

aid,  and  sound  judgment,  only  the  present 
writer  knows. 

Mr.  Warren  was  the  president  of  the  Young 
Men's  Association  at  its  twenty-fifth  anniversary 
in  1 86 1,  and  it  was  at  this  time  that  the  fortunate 
idea  of  the  executive  board  of  that  society,  that 
a  regular  public  exhibition  of  art  ought  to  form 
a  part  of  its  quarter-century  commemorations, 
was  suggested. 

The  project  was  approved,  and  to  the  Young 
Men's  Association  belongs  the  honor  of  being 
the  sponsors  of  the  first  regular  art  exhibition 
ever  given  in  the  city  of  Buffalo.  Its  general 
direction  was  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Edward  S. 
Rich,  the  chairman  of  the  art  committee,  but  he 
was  greatly  assisted  by  Mr.  H.  Ewers  Tallmadge, 
a  well-known  and  highly  esteemed  young  lawyer 
then  resident  in  the  city,  who  assumed  the  office 
of  secretary  of  the  exhibition  and  through  whose 
endeavors  many  fine  works  of  art  were  secured. 
The  following  description  by  Mr.  Warren,  writ- 
ten at  the  time,  tells  the  story  of  the  prepara- 
tions too  graphically  to  be  omitted,  the  writer 
will  only  add  that  a  better  exhibition  has  seldom 
been  offered  to  the  public  in  Buffalo.  It  was 
easier  to  obtain  good  pictures  from  native 

[  35  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


artists  then,  as  the  idea  was  novel,  and  though 
more  are  painted  there  are  so  many  cities  which 
have  followed  the  lead  of  Buffalo  in  establishing 
art  institutions  that  have  regular  exhibitions 
every  year  that  it  became  more  and  more  diffi- 
cult to  procure  good  works  of  art  for  exhibitions. 

Mr.  Warren  said:  "American  Hall  was 
engaged,  draped,  and  somewhat  inartistically 
extemporized  into  an  art  gallery.  A  confiding 
gas-fitter  was  discovered  who  engaged  to  put  in 
the  pipe  and  fixtures  and  remove  them  at  the 
close  of  the  exhibition  at  a  merely  nominal 
expense.  The  secretary  of  the  gas  company, 
Mr.  O.  G.  Steele,  with  characteristic  liberality, 
contracted  to  make  no  charge  for  the  lighting 
of  the  hall,  and  the  Hon.  William  G.  Fargo 
neglected  to  collect  the  express  bills  for  bringing 
pictures  from  New  York  and  returning  them  to 
their  owners.  Members  of  the  committee  waited 
on  those  of  our  citizens  who  were  owners  of 
paintings  and  begged  them  for  the  exhibition. 
Portraits  of  citizens  were  borrowed,  artists  at 
home  and  abroad  were  asked  to  contribute,  and 
as  a  result  the  hall  was  strewn  with  works  of 
art.  The  days  preceding  the  opening  were  busy 
and  anxious  ones.  Members  of  the  committee 

[  36  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


organized  by  the  indefatigable  Sellstedt,  who 
adds  to  artistic  genius  the  rare  ambition  to 
work  for  the  public  without  compensation, 
brought  order  out  of  chaos  and  the  pictures  at 
last  were  hung.  Would  anybody  come  to  see 
them  ?  Men  of  influence  were  quietly  smuggled 
in  and  requested  to  say  a  kind  word  for  the 
exhibition.  Ladies  of  taste  were  asked  to  lend 
their  countenance  to  the  doubtful  enterprise.  So 
fearful  was  the  committee  of  failure,  that  on  the 
evening  previous  to  the  opening  the  chairman 
of  the  committee,  Mr.  Edward  S.  Rich,  gave  a 
modest  spread  in  the  hall,  to  which  eighty  ladies 
and  gentlemen  were  invited.  They  came,  ad- 
mired the  pictures,  tested  the  sandwiches  and 
punch,  and  voted  the  exhibition  a  success,  and 
so  it  proved.  Two  hundred  and  eighty-five  paint- 
ings and  eight  pieces  of  statuary  were  included 
in  the  catalogue.  The  gross  receipts  were  eight 
hundred  and  thirty-five  dollars,  and  from  the 
net  proceeds  a  landscape  from  the  easel  of 
Geo.  L.  Brown,  of  New  York,  was  purchased  for 
the  association." 

The  project  of  forming  an  art  association  by 
the  artists  of  Buffalo,  though  dormant  since  the 
first  abortive  attempt  above  recorded,  was  by 

[  37  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


no  means  dead ;  and  the  success  which  attended 
the  venture  of  the  Young  Men's  Association  was 
well  calculated  to  awaken  it.  It  was  evident 
that  the  interest  of  the  public  was  very  much 
alive  to  the  subject  of  art,  and  therefore  that 
the  time  was  propitious. 

While  the  means  of  putting  their  idea  into 
concrete  form  was  agitating  the  minds  of  the 
hopeful  projectors,  a  fortuitous  event  not  only 
removed  some  of  the  difficulties  but  placed  the 
whole  matter  on  an  immediate  practical  footing. 

A  Mr.  Josiah  Humphrey  had  attempted  to 
establish  a  permanent  art  gallery  in  Rochester 
without  the  desired  success,  and,  in  some  way, 
learning  that  there  was  thought  of  founding 
a  permanent  gallery  in  Buffalo,  came  to  Mr. 
Le  Clear,  whom  he  justly  considered  the  most 
prominent  artist  in  Buffalo,  offering  to  remove 
his  whole  collection  here  if  a  guarantee  of  success 
could  be  assured  him. 

The  Young  Men's  Association  had  always 
had  a  committee  on  art,  had  even  thought  of 
an  art  gallery  as  a  complement  to  their  library. 
Some  pictures  they  had,  mostly  portraits  do- 
nated by  friends,  and  the  landscape  referred  to 
by  Mr.  Warren,  was  expected  to  be  a  beginning 

[   38  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

of  a  real  art  collection  to  which  an  annual  exhi- 
bition would  contribute.  For  this  reason  the 
idea  of  a  new  association  with  a  permanent 
gallery  and  regular  exhibitions  was  not  received 
without  feeling,  and  trouble  was  feared,  but 
wise  counsels  soon  put  an  end  to  whatever  dis- 
cord there  may  have  been,  and  perfect  harmony 
resulted.  To  this  much-desired  decision,  doubt- 
less, Mr.  Warren,  ever  an  opponent  to  strife  and 
a  far-seeing  man,  largely  contributed.  Instead 
of  opposition,  every  necessary  aid  was  freely 
tendered  the  artists  and  their  friends  in  their 
new  enterprise. 

Mr.  Humphrey's  proposal  was  readily  con- 
sidered by  Mr.  Le  Clear,  as  it  opened  a  way  for 
the  formation  of  the  desired  association  or 
academy  without  further  delay,  with  a  nucleus 
ready  at  hand  around  which  a  good  permanent 
gallery  of  art  might  cluster ;  it  only  remained  to 
agree  on  the  terms.  Anticipating  substantial  aid 
from  lovers  of  art,  Mr.  Le  Clear  took  into  his 
confidence  Mr.  Tallmadge,  who,  besides  his  expe- 
rience as  secretary  of  the  Young  Men's  Associa- 
tion exhibition,  by  which  he  had  familiarized 
himself  with  the  subject,  would  also,  through 
his  legal  knowledge,  be  a  safe  guide  in  matters 

[   39  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


of  business  and  assist  in  making  proper  and 
legal  arrangements  with  Mr.  Humphrey. 

A  night  was  spent  in  Mr.  Tallmadge's  office 
preparing  a  sketch  of  a  constitution  and  by- 
laws for  the  projected  institution.  A  list  of 
names  of  gentlemen  who  were  thought  pos- 
sessed of  influence  and  to  be  lovers  of  art  was 
prepared,  and  each  of  the  two  midnight  con- 
spirators agreed  to  present  the  subject  to  his 
respective  friends. 

On  the  night  of  November  loth,  1862,  Mr. 
Le  Clear  called  with  Mr.  Humphrey  at  the  office 
of  his  friend,  Mr.  Henry  W.  Rogers,  upon  whose 
aid  he  had  good  reasons  to  believe  he  could  rely, 
and  the  subject  was  discussed  between  them.  It 
was  agreed  to  convene  a  meeting  of  such  men 
as  were  likely  to  favor  the  enterprise,  to  talk 
over  the  matter.  The  following  gentlemen  met 
at  7  P.  M.,  November  nth,  in  Messrs.  Bowen 
&  Rogers'  office,  at  28  Erie  Street:  Henry  W. 
Rogers,  John  S.  Ganson,  Orsamus  H.  Marshall, 
Grosvenor  W.  Heacock,  Josiah  Himiphrey, 
George  S.  Hazard,  John  Allen,  Jr.,  Thomas 
Le  Clear,  Sylvester  F.  Mixer,  Harmon  S.  Cutting, 
James  M.  Smith,  L.  G.  Sellstedt,  Silas  H.  Fish, 
H.  Ewers  Tallmadge,  and  Anson  G.  Chester. 

[  40  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Mr.  0.  H.  Marshall  was  made  chairman  of  the 
meeting  and  Anson  G.  Chester,  secretary. 

The  meeting  being  called  to  order,  it  was 
resolved  to  organize  an  association  for  the  culti- 
vation of  the  Fine  Arts  of  Buffalo,  to  be  called 
the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  but  Mr.  Anson  G. 
Chester  offered  as  amendment  that  it  be  called 
the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy,  which  was  car- 
ried. The  proposed  constitution  and  by-laws 
prepared  as  above  was,  after  a  few  amendments, 
adopted,  and  the  following  officers  were  elected 
to  serve  for  one  year:  Henry  W.  Rogers,  presi- 
dent ;  George  S.  Hazard,  James  M.  Smith,  and 
George  B.  Hibbard,  vice-presidents;  Josiah 
Humphrey,  corresponding  secretary ;  H.  Ewers 
Tallmadge,  recording  secretary ;  John  Allen,  Jr., 
treasurer.  Sixteen  curators  were  chosen  to  serve 
for  two  years,  viz :  Millard  Fillmore,  Sherman  S. 
Jewett,  Grosvenor  W.  Heacock,  John  S.  Ganson, 
0.  H.  Marshall,  L.  G.  Sellstedt,  W.  H.  Beard, 
S.  V.  R.  Watson,  William  Dorsheimer,  Silas  H. 
Fish,  Asher  P.  Nichols,  Sylvester  F.  Mixer,  W. 
Wilkeson,  Harmon  S.  Cutting,  Thomas  Le  Clear, 
Anson  G.  Chester,  and  George  B.  Hibbard. 
All  but  Mr.  Hibbard  consented  to  serve,  and 
Bronson  C.  Rumsey  was  chosen  in  his  place. 

[    41  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Thus  the  infant  was  baptized  and  left  in  care 
of  its  sponsors. 

Mr.  Humphrey  had  claimed,  as  a  sine  qua 
non,  that  the  sum  of  $6,000  must  be  raised  to 
purchase  one  of  the  pictures  of  his  collection, 
"The  Departure  of  the  Pilgrims  from  Delfts- 
haven  for  America,  A.  D.,  1620,"  by  Charles 
Lucy,  of  which  he  exhibited  a  steel  engraving; 
but,  though  it  might  be  a  desirable  possession,  it 
was  thought  that  if  the  money  were  raised  it 
would  be  unwise  to  expend  it  all  on  one  single 
work  of  art.  However,  as  a  compromise,  Mr. 
Humphrey  at  last  consented  to  bring  the 
whole  collection  if  assurance  were  given  that 
the  $6,000  would  be  expended  on  paintings 
which  he  owned  or  controlled.  A  commit- 
tee was  appointed  to  get  subscribers  for 
this  fund,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Hazard  and 
Rogers. 

These  gentlemen  started  out  on  their  mission 
on  the  morning  of  the  nth  of  December,  and 
before  6  P.  M.  had  twelve  subscribers  of  $500 
each,  to  which  another  $500  was  added  later. 
Their  names  were:  Henry  W.  Rogers,  Geo.  S. 
Hazard,  Sherman  S.  Jewett,  David  Bennett, 
Bronson   C.    Rumsey,   Lauren   C.  Woodruff, 

[  42  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Stephen  V.  R.  Watson,  Charles  Ensign,  Chand- 
ler J.  Wells,  John  Allen,  Jr.,  Pascal  P.  Pratt, 
Francis  H.  Root,  James  Brayley. 

On  the  4th  of  December,  1862,  the  Buffalo 
Fine  Arts  Academy  was  incorporated  by  the  fol- 
lowing incorporators :  Millard  Fillmore,  Silas  H. 
Fish,  Grosvenor  W.  Heacock,  William  G.  Fargo, 
P.  P.  Pratt,  H.  E.  Howard,  S.  S.  Jewett,  William 
Williams,  John  S.  Ganson,  Julius  Movius,  L. 

G.  Sellstedt,  Henry  W.  Rogers,  Oliver  G. 
Steele,  Asher  P.  Nichols,  John  Allen,  Jr.,  Bron- 
son  C.  Rumsey,  William  Dorsheimer,  Orsamus 

H.  Marshall,  Harmon  S.  Cutting,  Stephen  V. 
R.  Watson,  Henry  A.  Richmond,  S.  F.  Mixer, 
H.  Ewers  Tallmadge,  Coleman  T.  Robinson, 
Anson  G.  Chester,  James  M.  Smith. 

The  essential  facts  in  the  history  of  the 
institution  up  to  the  close  of  the  nineteenth 
century  are  so  well  and  correctly  recorded  in 
Mr.  Willis  O.  Chapin's  historical  sketch  of  the 
Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy  that  little  is  left  for 
the  writer  but  to  fill  out  its  outlines  and  broad 
lights  and  shades  with  details  which  may  or  may 
not  add  interest  or  value,  however  relevant 
they  may  be  to  the  subject.  Matters  of  financial 
nature  may  be  found  faithfully  recorded  in  his 

[   43  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


book  and  will  be  omitted  here.  The  chief  aim  of 
the  writer  is  centered  in  a  desire  to  call  attention 
to  some  of  the  difficulties  attendant  upon  the 
means,  whether  altruistic  or  intellectual,  of 
keeping  up  the  interest  of  the  public  in  the 
novel  experiment. 

In  the  published  address  by  the  superin- 
tendent at  the  opening  of  the  Gallery  at  its  first 
decennial  in  1872,  the  preparation  and  inaugu- 
ration of  the  Gallery  are  thus  described: 
"Rooms  were  selected  for  the  Gallery  in  the 
building  known  as  the  Arcade,  on  the  southeast 
corner  of  Main  and  Clinton  streets.  They  were  on 
the  third  floor,  which  consisted  of  five  apart- 
ments, the  two  largest  of  which  were  lighted 
from  above.  A  large  clothing  store  now  occu- 
pies the  site.  They  were  painted,  carpeted,  and 
furnished  with  gas  lights,  and  other  necessaries 
for  an  art  gallery,  and  so  energetically  did 
the  committee  in  charge  (Messrs.  Humphrey, 
Rogers,  and  Sellstedt)  push  the  work,  that  by 
the  middle  of  December  the  rooms  were  ready 
for  the  removal  of  the  art  works  from  Rochester. 
In  the  meantime,  Messrs.  Le  Clear  and  Hum- 
phrey had  been  to  Rochester  for  the  collection, 
and  the  work  of  hanging  commenced." 

[   44  ] 


IV 

T  HE  formal  inauguration  of  the  Buffalo  Fine 
Arts  Academy  took  place  on  the  evening  of  the 
23d  of  December,  1862.  No  one  who  has  not  ex- 
perienced the  difficulty  of  such  an  undertaking 
with  such  limited  means  can  believe  with  what 
joy  they  who  had  labored  for  its  success  saw 
the  completion  of  their  work. 

On  the  evening  mentioned  the  rooms  were 
crowded  with  an  expectant  throng  of  the  lovers 
of  art  and  the  best  society  in  the  city  in  its 
finest  clothes.  After  a  musical  prelude  by  Pop- 
penberg's  band,  the  venerable  and  honored 
ex-President  of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Millard 
Fillmore,  as  chairman  of  the  committee  of 
reception,  arose  to  introduce  Mr.  Henry  W. 
Rogers  as  president  of  the  Academy.  Mr. 
Rogers'  address  was  a  brief  review  of  the  various 
enterprises  which  had  been  instrumental  in 
forming  the  culture  of  Buffalo. 

After  more  music  by  Poppenberg's  band, 
Mr.  Anson  G.  Chester  read  a  poem  written  by 
himself  for  the  occasion.*  The  happy  evening 

*  The  poems  written  in  honor  of  the  various  festive  occasions  will  be 
found  in  their  order  at  the  end  of  this  volume. 

[    45  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

closed  by  a  reception  given  by  the  president  at 
his  home,  attended  by  the  officers  of  the  new- 
born enterprise  and  other  friends. 

Some  of  the  pictures  which  Mr.  Humphrey 
had  brought  to  the  Gallery  were  the  property  of 
Mr.  Frodsham  of  New  York,  the  former  being 
his  agent.  ''The  Departure  of  the  Pilgrims,"  by 
Lucy,  was  Mr.  Charles  Frodsham's  property. 
That  the  hope  of  selling  this  picture  had  been 
the  principal  object  in  offering  to  bring  the 
collection  to  Buffalo  was  evident  by  the  con- 
dition imposed  by  Mr.  Humphrey,  that  $6,000 
(the  exact  sum  asked  for  it)  must  be  provided. 
Mr.  Frodsham  was  in  need  of  money,  and  since 
he  could  not  sell  his  picture  to  Buffalo  insisted 
on  its  return  to  New  York  at  once.  The  removal 
of  this  attraction,  which  filled  a  whole  wall, 
would  be  a  blow  to  the  success  of  the  exhibi- 
tion ;  and  a  compromise  was  effected  by  loan- 
ing Mr.  Frodsham  $2,500  on  his  picture  for  a 
year,  thus  saving  it  to  the  Gallery  for  that 
time.  Later  on,  an  offer  was  made  to  sell  to  the 
Academy  ''The  French  Revolution,"  costing 
$3,500,  taking  the  money  loaned  and  $1,000 
in  cash  for  it.  This  offer  was  accepted,  Messrs. 
Allen  and  Captain  Dorr  advancing  the  money. 

[   46  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


''The  Pilgrims"  was  afterward  sold  to  the 
New  England  Society  in  New  York. 

It  was  found  that  the  expense  of  maintaining 
the  exhibition  rendered  the  original  dream  of  a 
free  gallery  a  dream  indeed,  though  hopes  were 
held  out  that  something  would  turn  up  in  the 
distant  future  to  make  it  real. 

The  first  donation  of  any  work  of  art  was 
by  the  late  Albert  Bierstadt,  an  artist  of  broad 
and  liberal  views,  a  fine  landscape,  represent- 
ing a  view  of  the  rocky  coast  of  the  Island 
of  Capri  with  the  Faraglioni  Rocks  in  the 
middle  distance,  a  beautiful  and  carefully 
painted  picture. 

Differences  between  the  Academy  and  Mr. 
Humphrey  began  early,  and  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  adjust  them.  This  resulted  in  the 
purchase  of  two  pictures,  ''The  Captive  Soul," 
by  J.  A.  Oertel,  and  a  landscape  by  Jolivert. 
Mr.  Humphrey  also  resigned,  on  the  condition 
that  Mr.  Le  Clear  took  charge  of  the  Gallery, 
and  not  Mr.  Sellstedt,  against  whom,  for  some 
reason  now  forgotten,  he  had  taken  umbrage. 
Among  the  works  of  art  brought  from  Rochester 
was  "The  Dead  Pearl  Diver,"  by  Paul  Akers, 
a  recumbent  statue  in  marble  belonging  to 

[  47  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

Mr.  Akers'  widow.  It  is  now  the  property  of 
the  Portland  Library. 

Mr.  Le  Clear  removed  to  New  York  a  few 
months  afterwards,  and  the  writer  was  requested 
to  take  charge  as  superintendent.  The  bi- 
monthly exhibitions  which  then  obtained  re- 
quired frequent  trips  to  New  York  in  search  of 
new  material,  and,  as  few  if  any  pictures  were 
sold,  the  artists  soon  became  unwilling  to  lend 
their  works.  Nevertheless,  for  a  while,  all  went 
fairly  well.  It  was  a  hard  task  to  get  boxes  of 
pictures  up  to  the  Gallery,  and  unpack  and 
hang  them,  as  no  assistance  was  at  hand  but 
the  janitor,  the  young  lady  clerk,  and  such  men 
as  could  be  found  in  the  street  to  lend  a  hand. 
Generally,  the  pictures  were  placed  on  the  wall 
by  the  superintendent  alone,  unless  help  was 
needed  to  lift  them.  The  principal  wall  was 
brick  without  wooden  sheeting,  and  the  bricks 
must  be  drilled  for  nails,  which  proved  laborious 
and  slow  work.  The  superintendent  seldom  left 
the  building  until  midnight,  and  he  remembers 
hanging  pictures  a  whole  night,  mostly  without 
assistance,  to  be  ready  for  the  announced  open- 
ing in  the  morning,  but  he  was  young  and 
strong,  full  of  vigor  and  deeply  in  love  with  art. 

[    48  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Mr.  George  S.  Hazard  succeeded  Mr.  Rogers 
as  president  in  1 864.  The  opening  ceremony  took 
place  on  the  13th  of  February,  when  a  poem 
was  read,  written  for  the  occasion  by  our  richly 
gifted  and  sweetly  remembered  David  Gray,  a 
young  poet  and  all-around  literary  man,  of 
whose  memory  our  city  will  ever  be  proud. 

The  breakers  that  had  threatened  the  em- 
barkation no  longer  showed  their  frowning 
forms,  and  the  hopes  entertained  that  the  rest 
of  the  voyage  might  be,  if  not  with  constancy 
of  fair  and  pleasant  winds,  at  least  without 
destructive  storms,  seemed  reasonable. 

The  country  was  now  in  the  midst  of  war 
and  great  efforts  were  made  by  the  patriotic  and 
benevolent  men  and  women  who  could  not  take 
part  in  field  operations  to  care  as  much  as  pos- 
sible for  the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers.  During 
January,  1864,  a  fair  was  held  by  the  ladies  of 
the  Christian  Commission  in  their  behalf.  A 
communication  from  its  president,  Mrs.  William 
G.  Fargo,  requesting  the  use  of  the  Gallery  as 
an  auxiliary  aid  to  the  fair  was  answered  by 
a  resolution  introduced  by  ex-President  Fill- 
more, and  unanimously  passed  by  the  board  of 
curators,  that  the  Gallery  be  given  up  to  the 

[  49  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

ladies  of  the  Christian  Commission  for  a  week. 
Extra  attractions  were  furnished,  comprising 
pictures,  articles  of  virtu,  and  curios,  borrowed 
mostly  from  citizens  wherever  anything  of 
interest  might  be  found. 

The  writer  remembers  with  pleasure  an 
incident  which  took  place  about  this  time.  This 
was  a  visit  by  the  Ministers  of  several  European 
countries,  with  Mr.  Seward,  the  United  States 
Secretary  of  State,  who  was  escorting  them  on 
a  jaunt  through  the  country.  Among  the  works 
of  art  to  which  special  attention  was  called 
were  Page's  "Venus,"  Rothermel's  ''St.  Agnes," 
"Twelfth  Night,"  and  Tenier's  "Village  Festi- 
val," these  being  borrowed  from  the  Cooper 
Institute  of  New  York. 

In  January,  1865,  a  disastrous  fire  destroyed 
the  American  Hotel  and  adjoining  buildings. 
This  destructive  calamity  is  sadly  remembered 
by  those  who  knew  the  three  of  Buffalo's  most 
esteemed  young  men  whose  lives  were  sacrificed 
while  doing  their  duty  as  volunteer  firemen  on 
that  dreadful  occasion,  James  H.  Sidway,  George 
H.  Ti&t,  and  William  H.  Gillett  — all  youths 
of  promise,  of  bright  future,  and  belonging  to 
the  best  society  of  the  city. 

[  50  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


The  Art  Gallery,  being  directly  opposite,  was 
felt  to  be  in  danger,  as  the  heat  was  so  great 
that  the  windows  were  bent,  and  it  seemed  as  if 
the  building  must  take  fire.  In  great  haste  the 
most  important  pictures  were  taken  from  the 
walls  ready  for  instant  removal,  the  large  canvas, 
"The  Departure  of  the  Pilgrims,"  was  rolled  up 
and  packed  ready  for  shipping,  as  the  arrange- 
ment for  its  return  was  pending,  and  it  was 
never  put  up  again  in  Buffalo. 

The  Young  Men's  Association  with  its  libra- 
ry, which  since  its  foundation  in  1835  been 
gradually  outgrowing  its  first  headquarters  in 
an  upper  room  near  Swan  Street,  afterwards 
moving  to  the  second  story  of  a  modest  brick 
building  on  South  Division  Street  near  Main, 
thence  into  temporary  quarters  in  the  American 
Block,  had  found  safer  and  more  commodious 
accommodations  in  the  new  building  back  of 
the  old  Court  House,  recently  erected  to  accom- 
modate the  needs  of  justice,  but  vacated  after 
the  erection  of  the  present  City  Hall,  and  being 
at  a  later  date  also  removed  to  make  room  for 
the  present  ornate  structure,  in  which  its  library, 
now  the  property  of  the  city,  is  housed. 

In  the  meantime  it  began  to  be  felt  that  the 
[  51  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

growing  needs  of  the  Association  required  better 
and  permanent  quarters  of  its  own,  and  by  the 
liberality  of  a  few  prominent  citizens  it  became 
the  owner  of  the  St.  James  Hotel  property, 
where  now  stands  the  Iroquois  Hotel.  As  soon  as 
the  Association  acquired  possession,  the  Buffalo 
Fine  Arts  Academy  was  invited  to  move  its 
Gallery  there.  The  terms  were  liberal  and  the 
invitation  was  accepted  without  hesitation. 
Room  was  assigned  the  Academy  and  the 
necessary  alterations  were  to  be  made  by  the 
Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy,  the  cost  of  which 
was  to  be  counted  as  rent.  This  was  but  nominal, 
the  understanding  being  that  a  perpetual  home 
for  the  institution  should  be  given  as  long  as  it 
needed  or  chose  to  retain  it.  Mr.  S.  V.  R.  Wat- 
son, president  of  the  Young  Men's  Association 
at  the  time,  was  the  leading  spirit  in  this  move- 
ment, and  in  consultation  with  the  superin- 
tendent of  the  Gallery,  as  to  the  wants  of  the 
Academy,  he  suggested  a  plan  of  alteration  in  the 
building  which  would  give  the  necessary  con- 
veniences for  exhibition  rooms,  ofhce,  storage, 
etc.  The  plan  was  accepted  by  the  committee 
appointed  for  the  purpose  and  the  work  began 
under  the  supervision  of  Messrs.  Henry  A. 

[  52  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

Richmond  and  Captain  Eben  P.  Dorr,  who 
themselves  advanced  the  necessary  funds  for 
the  work. 

Though  Mr.  S.  S.  Jewett  was  elected  presi- 
dent in  January,  1865,  the  new  Gallery  was  not 
opened  until  February  of  the  same  year,  the 
preparatory  alterations  not  being  completed  till 
then.  The  dedicatory  ceremony  opened  with 
music  from  a  band,  and  an  address  was  delivered 
by  the  Hon.  William  Dorsheimer,  followed  by 
the  reading  of  a  poem  by  the  Rev.  Albert 
T.  Chester. 

The  moving  from  the  old  Gallery  of  ''The 
Dead  Pearl  Diver  "  is  remembered  most  vividly. 
The  stairs  of  the  new  building  could  not  be 
trusted  with  its  weight,  nor  was  the  flooring  of 
the  Gallery,  which  was  on  the  third  story,  strong 
enough,  even  if  it  could  be  got  in.  The  latter 
difficulty  was  overcome  by  building  a  platform 
of  heavy  plank  resting  on  cross-beams,  and  the 
first  by  hoisting  it  up  and  taking  it  through  a 
window.  Here  the  superintendent's  sailor  ex- 
perience came  into  play.  A  tackle  and  the  serv- 
ices of  a  couple  of  sailors  were  borrowed  from 
Captain  Dorr,  a  piece  of  timber  pushed  out  from 
the  fourth-story  window  and  secured  inside,  a 

[  53  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

double  tackle  with  new  manila  rope  attached 
outside,  three  or  four  stout  men  at  the  fall,  and 
amid  a  host  of  curious  spectators  the  beautiful 
stone,  weighing  over  3,000  pounds,  rose  grace- 
fully and  slowly  to  its  elevated  location. 

Although  the  friends  of  the  Buffalo  Fine 
Arts  Academy  were  by  this  favorable  arrange- 
ment with  the  Young  Men's  Association  hopeful 
for  its  future,  being  thus  conveniently  homed 
and  substantially  rent  free,  it  was  not  long 
before  it  was  discovered  that  the  infant  could 
not  live  without  its  bottle,  seeing  that  it  had  no 
natural  mother  to  give  it  needed  sustenance. 
The  expense  necessary  to  carry  on  successfully  a 
permanent  exhibition  was  found  to  be  too  great 
to  render  it  self-sustaining,  especially  when 
the  public  seemingly  continually  required  new 
objects  of  interest  to  induce  their  needed  attend- 
ance. The  expense  of  transporting  works  of  art 
from  New  York  or  elsewhere  was  great,  and  even 
though  Mr.  William  G.  Fargo,  a  liberal  contribu- 
tor to  all  good  endeavors  (on  one  occasion  well 
remembered  by  the  writer,  who  was  an  invited 
guest  at  the  Astor  House  in  New  York  City, 
where  the  representatives  of  all  the  express 
companies  were  in  the  habit  of  lunching),  pro- 

[  54  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


posed  to  transport  the  pictures  for  the  Buffalo 
Fine  Arts  Academy  free  of  charge,  the  conces- 
sion could  not  be  accepted,  as  the  insurance 
would  have  to  be  borne  by  the  Academy,  for 
the  express  companies  could  not  be  expected  to 
be  responsible  in  the  matter  of  insurance. 

Sometimes  very  heavy  charges  were  made 
for  transporting  pictures.  The  writer  remembers 
that,  in  one  case,  $300  was  charged  for  taking  a 
large  picture  from  Buffalo  to  Boston.  Indeed,  it 
was  difficult  to  get  the  express  companies  to  take 
large  pictures  at  any  price.  Later,  another  way 
was  found,  viz,  to  ship  by  what  was  called  the 
Merchants  Despatch,  which,  though  slower,  was 
equally  safe  and  much  cheaper.  Still  there 
remained  the  insurance  on  the  paintings,  which 
in  such  a  building  was  heavy,  and  other  con- 
tingent matters,  such  as  care,  heating,  lighting, 
etc.,  made  the  expense  far  beyond  the  usual 
income.  Thus  it  was  that  a  crisis  was  near;  in 
some  way  money  must  be  obtained  or  the  whole 
enterprise  abandoned.  At  a  meeting  called  for 
the  purpose,  the  situation  was  explained  by  the 
superintendent,  and  the  consultation  which 
followed  made  it  plain  that  some  sort  of  endow- 
ment must  be  made  to  cover  the  regular  annual 

[  55  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


deficit.  As  the  deficit  was  mostly  due  to  insur- 
ance, the  annual  sum  of  $700  was  thought  to  be 
sufficient,  and  it  was  resolved  to  raise  by  sub- 
scription $10,000,  the  interest  of  which  at  seven 
per  cent.,  legal  at  the  time,  being  the  sum 
required.  Mr.  Sherman  S.  Jewett,  ever  a  liberal 
friend  of  the  Academy,  headed  the  list  with 
$1,000,  this  was  followed  by  Bronson  C.  Rumsey 
and  Henry  A.  Richmond  with  equal  amounts, 
when  a  committee  was  appointed  to  raise  the 
remaining  $7,000.  Mr.  0.  G.  Steele,  who  was  the 
chairman  of  the  committee,  reported  later  that 
they  had  not  succeeded  in  raising  the  full 
amount,  whereupon  Mr.  Jewett  informed  Mr. 
Warren  that  he  would  increase  his  subscription 
to  $10,000.  This  put  a  new  face  on  the  matter 
and  resulted  in  an  attempt  to  make  the  fund 
$20,000,  which  eventually  succeeded,  after  which 
Mr.  Jewett 's  generous  contribution  was  set 
aside  and  called  the  ''Jewett  Picture  Fund." 

In  1866,  Captain  E.  P.  Dorr,  one  of  the  most 
devoted  friends  and  patrons  of  the  Academy, 
was  elected  president.  A  scholarly  address  on 
"The  Aristocracy  of  Art "  was  delivered  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Albert  T.  Chester,  after  which  Mrs.  E. 
A.  Forbes'  beautiful  poem  was  read  by  the  Hon. 

[  56  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


William  Dorsheimer.  Captain  E.  P.  Dorr  was 
reelected  in  1867.  The  customary  address  was 
delivered  by  the  Hon.  Asher  P.  Nichols,  one  of 
the  most  learned  and  popular  members  of  the 
city's  bar.  The  poem  by  Miss  Amanda  T.  Jones 
was  charmingly  rendered  by  Mrs.  Rogers,  who, 
before  her  marriage,  for  a  short  time  had  adopted 
the  dramatic  profession.  She  was  the  beautiful 
daughter  of  Mr.  G.  H.  Goodrich,  one  of  Buffalo's 
oldest  and  most  respected  citizens. 

In  1868,  Mr.  C.  F.  S.  Thomas  was  elected 
president.  The  annual  opening  was  held  in  St. 
James  Hall.  The  principal  address  was  by  the 
writer,  and  the  usual  poem  by  Miss  Julia  H. 
Forbes,  entitled  ''The  Nursery  of  Arts,"  was 
beautifully  read  by  the  late  Hon.  James  O. 
Putnam.  The  annual  opening  of  1869  was  again 
held  in  St.  James  Hall.  Mr.  H.  W.  Rogers,  the 
president,  being  absent,  the  vice-president, 
Hon.  Wm.  Dorsheimer,  presided.  After  his 
introductory  remarks,  the  Rev.  Frederick 
Frothingham,  of  the  Unitarian  Church,  de- 
livered a  beautiful  address  on  "Tastes  in  Art," 
which  was  rapturously  received;  but  on  this 
occasion  the  exercises  closed  without  a  poem. 

Mr.  Henry  W.  Rogers  was  again  elected 
[  57  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

president  in  1870.  An  able  address  by  Mr.  J. 
N.  Larned  and  a  poem  by  Mrs.  S.  F.  Mixer, 
read  by  Mr.  Anson  G.  Chester,  were  the  prin- 
cipal literary  features  of  the  occasion. 

Mr.  William  Pryor  Letchworth  was  elected 
president  of  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy 
in  1 87 1.  The  opening  this  year  was  marked 
by  an  able  address  by  Mr.  Joseph  Warren, 
and  a  sweet  poem  written  for  the  occasion  by 
Miss  Ellen  M.  Ferris,  a  highly  poetically  gifted 
young  lady,  whose  early  death  was  greatly 
regretted  and  deeply  mourned  by  all  who 
knew  her. 

In  1872,  Mr.  Letchworth  was  reelected.  Mr. 
Chapin's  description  in  his  history  of  the  opening 
ceremonies  of  this  year  is  so  complete  that  the 
writer  takes  the  liberty  of  giving  it  verbatim: 
"The  decennial  anniversary  of  the  founding  of 
the  Academy  was  held  in  the  Gallery,  December 
23,  1872.  A  large  and  brilliant  assemblage 
witnessed  the  exercises.  Mr.  Letchworth  in- 
troduced Mr.  Sellstedt,  who  read  a  carefully 
prepared  historical  sketch  of  the  Academy 
(given  in  the  Courier  and  Republic,  December 
24th).  After  music  furnished  by  Poppenberg's 
band,  Mr.  Hazard  read  the  poem  by  Miss 

[  58  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

Matilda  H.  Stuart  and  Mr.  Letchworth  read  a 
brief  address. 

*'At  this  meeting  the  fine  portrait  of  Mr. 
Sellstedt  in  his  studio,  painted  by  himself,  was 
unveiled  and  formally  presented  to  the  Acad- 
emy; a  merited  recognition  of  Mr.  Sellstedt 's 
long  and  faithful  services  to  the  institution. 
This  portrait  had  been  exhibited  in  the  New 
York  Academy  of  Design,  where  it  had  been 
greatly  admired.  In  1876,  it  was  sent  to  Phila- 
delphia with  Beard's  'March  of  Silenus,'  as 
Buffalo's  contribution  to  the  exhibit  of  the  Cen- 
tennial Exhibition.  The  portrait  was  purchased 
from  Mr.  Sellstedt  for  $1,000  and  presented  to 
the  Academy  by  the  following  gentlemen :  — 
Hon.  Millard  Fillmore,  John  Allen,  Jr.,  S.  S. 
Jewett,  Bronson  C.  Rumsey,  P.  P.  Pratt,  Dr. 
T.  F.  Rochester,  Austin  Hart,  Albert  H.  Tracy, 
William  G.  Fargo,  Henry  A.  Richmond,  William 
Wilkeson,  S.  S.  Rogers,  Josiah  Letchworth, 
James  Brayley,  Joseph  Warren,  David  Gray, 
Gen.  R.  L.  Howard,  and  William  Pryor  Letch- 
worth." 

The  proceedings  of  this  meeting  were  after- 
wards preserved  in  pamphlet  form  by  Mr. 
Letchworth.  The  occasion  was  the  more  worthy 

[  59  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


of  particular  notice  as  it  brought  hope  of  per- 
petuity to  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy  by 
the  generosity  of  the  subscribers  to  the  necessary 
endowment  fund,  which  was  headed  by  Mr. 
Jewett  with  $10,000.  Later,  Mr.  Jewett's  gift 
was  set  apart  for  a  picture  purchase  fund  with 
the  name  of  its  donor,  and  from  which  some  of 
the  Academy's  choicest  paintings  have  been 
bought.  These  matters,  however,  are  things 
that  properly  belong  to  the  Academy's  finances, 
the  details  of  which  may  be  found  where  all  that 
concerns  its  material  interests  are  recorded. 

The  writer  spent  a  large  part  of  1875  in 
European  travel,  and  on  his  return  the  following 
year  was  elected  president  of  the  Academy.  His 
opening  address  was  largely  a  plea  for  the  ad- 
vancement and  support  of  American  Art, 
together  with  an  earnest  appeal  in  favor  of  the 
speedy  establishment  of  the  Art  School  in  con- 
nection with  the  Academy,  which  had  always 
been  a  desideratimi  in  view  from  its  inception. 
Mr.  Arthur  W.  Austin  was  the  poet  at  the  usual 
annual  ceremonies. 

A  sad  event  of  this  year  was  the  death  of 
Joseph  Warren,  one  of  the  most  efficient  friends 
of  the  institution.  In  his  history,  Mr.  Chapin 

[  60  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

says:  "At  a  meeting  held  November  15,  1876, 
resolutions  on  the  death  of  Mr.  Warren  were 
passed.  Instrumental  in  establishing  the  per- 
manent funds  of  the  Academy  and  at  all  times  a 
zealous  worker  in  its  behalf,  Mr.  Warren  pos- 
sessed the  happy  faculty  of  inspiring  others  with 
his  own  enthusiasm." 

By  this  time  our  citizens  had  received  some 
light  on  the  elements  that  constitute  good  art, 
and  had  begun  to  be  adverse  critics  on  the  col- 
lection as  a  whole.  The  necessity  of  filling  the 
walls  which  the  general  public,  on  whose  pat- 
ronage the  Academy  had  hitherto  mainly  relied, 
demanded  as  a  sine  qua  non  that  every  avail- 
able inch  of  the  walls  should  be  covered  with 
pictures,  had  compelled  the  acceptance  of  pic- 
tures of  little  or  no  real  merit.  Invidious  com- 
parisons with  the  great  galleries  with  which 
their  foreign  travels  had  made  them  familiar 
were  often  heard.  Doubtless  the  zeal  for  the 
institution  was  thus  materially  dampened  in  the 
minds  of  some  who  really  desired  its  success. 
Especially  was  American  Art  thought  little  of, 
and  this  finally  even  went  so  far  that  at  least 
one  generous  testatrix  barred  American  Art  in 
her  will. 

[   61  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


A  memorable  loan  exhibition  of  works  of  art, 
curios,  etc.,  was  held  this  year  at  the  spacious 
residence  of  the  late  O.  L.  Nims,  then  the  prop- 
erty of  Mrs.  Dean  Richmond,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  General  Hospital,  to  which  the  Buffalo  Fine 
Arts  Academy  contributed  some  of  its  treasures. 

This  being  the  year  of  the  Centennial  Fair 
at  Philadelphia,  which  naturally  attracted  the 
lovers  of  art,  the  interest  in  home  art  for  the 
time  was  lessened. 

Till  early  in  the  seventies,  the  Art  School  had 
not  materialized,  but  there  was  a  general  interest 
in  the  subject  which  manifested  itself  in  the 
form  of  societies  or  clubs,  especially  among  the 
ladies  and  gentlemen  of  leisure. 

The  first  effort  of  the  Academy  to  establish  an 
Art  School  was  at  a  meeting  called  by  president 
William  Pryor  Letchworth  early  in  1874.  All 
agreed  that  something  must  be  done;  but  two 
obstacles  had  hitherto  stood  in  the  way,  lack  of 
money  to  purchase  the  necessary  casts  and 
other  accessories  needed,  and  want  of  room.  A 
subscription  was  taken  up  on  the  spot  to  defray 
immediate  expenses,  and  a  large  room  heretofore 
used  as  an  office  was  devoted  to  the  school; 
other  arrangements  were  made  for  office  work. 

[  62  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


The  subscribers  were:  William  Pryor  Letch- 
worth,  $25  ;  Thomas  F.  Rochester,  $25  ;  George 
S.  Hazard,  $25  ;  Francis  H.  Root,  $25  ;  Oliver  G. 
Steele,  $25;  Miss  Rebecca  Townsend,  $50; 
Watson  A.  Fox,  $10;  A.  P.  Southwick,  $10; 
Ammi  M.  Farnham,  $10;  Richard  A.  Waite, 
$15;  Pascal  P.  Pratt,  $25;  H.  M.  Clay,  $20; 
James  Brayley,  $25;  Mentz,  $5;  Gruener,  $5; 
making  a  total  of  $300. 

This  was  considered  a  fair  start.  The  office 
was  vacated,  casts  were  purchased  by  the  super- 
intendent, and  Mr.  Farnham,  having  knowledge 
of  the  Munich  schools,  kindly  undertook  the 
instruction.  For  a  time  the  infant  enterprise 
had  fair  success,  but  after  a  few  months,  Mr. 
Farnham  having  resigned,  there  being  no  one 
to  take  his  place,  the  school  dwindled  into 
* '  innocuous  desuetude . ' ' 

Soon  after,  finding  the  room  empty.  Judge 
Clinton  took  possession  of  it  for  the  use  of  the 
Natural  Sciences.  The  school  was  not  dead,  but 
sleeping,  and  revived  when  the  Buffalo  Fine 
Arts  Academy,  in  1887,  found  shelter  with  the 
Young  Men's  Association,  and  here  one  of  the 
rooms  not  well  suited  for  exhibitions  was 
appropriated  to  it.  New  casts  were  added  and 

[  63  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

the  necessary  fittings,  gas,  etc.,  were  paid  for 
out  of  what  remained  of  the  above  fund.  For  a 
short  time  the  writer  acted  as  critic,  but  as  he 
could  not  well  give  his  time  and  was,  in  fact,  not 
sufficiently  acquainted  with  proper  academic 
instruction,  a  regular  teacher  must  be  procured. 
After  much  trouble,  a  young  artist  from  Niagara 
Falls,  who  had  received  European  instruction  in 
a  regular  way,  was  found  and  he  consented  to 
come  to  Buffalo  and  rule  the  school.  His  name 
was  James  Francis  Brown,  and  for  some  time  all 
went  well.  The  school  was  well  attended  by 
both  men  and  women.  Of  the  former,  some  were 
connected  with  printing  establishments  who 
were  anxious  and  earnest  in  their  endeavors  to 
overcome  the  difficulties  of  design,  so  useful 
in  their  business,  which  had  already  begun 
to  be  a  necessary  part  of  the  daily  press  re- 
quirements, in  illustrations  demanding  artistic 
skill. 

In  1 88 1,  the  Academy  had  moved  to  the 
building  owned  by  the  Austin  Estate,  corner  of 
Franklin  and  Niagara  streets,  and  Dr.  Thomas 
F.  Rochester,  ever  a  friend  to  everything  good 
and  useful,  became  its  president,  an  office  held 
until  his  death  in  1887.  Addresses  at  this  open- 

[  64  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

ing  were  by  J.  N.  Larned  and  the  Hon.  E.  C. 
Sprague,  but  there  was  no  poem. 

Mr.  Chapin  says:  "The  twentieth  anniver- 
sary of  the  Academy  was  celebrated  December 
20,  1882.  As  on  its  decennial  anniversary,  so 
again  Mr.  Sellstedt  reviewed  the  history  of  the 
Academy  during  its  early  years,  paying  tribute 
to  Henry  W.  Rogers,  Captain  Dorr,  Joseph 
Warren,  John  Allen,  Jr.,  Sherman  S.  Jewett,  and 
others,  whose  work  for  the  Academy  had  made 
its  existence  possible.  Another  speaker  would 
have  added  to  this  list,  for  constant  devotion 
and  indefatigable  work  for  the  Academy,  the 
name  of  Mr.  Sellstedt;  Mr.  Richard  K.  Noye 
read  a  poem  by  Miss  Annie  R.  Annan,  "A 
Village  Raphael." 

In  1887,  Mr,  Sherman  S.  Rogers  was  elected 
president.  At  this  opening  Bishop  A.  Cleveland 
Coxe  gave  the  address  and  Mr.  James  0.  Put- 
nam read  a  beautiful  poem  written  by  Robert 
Cameron  Rogers,  entitled  ''The  Dancing  Faun." 

This  was  the  last  contribution  in  verse  to  the 
Academy  till  some  years  later,  when  Richard 
Watson  Gilder  read  his  remarkable  poem  at 
the  inauguration  ceremonies  of  the  opening  of 
the  new  and  permanent  home  of  the  Buffalo 

[  65  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

Fine  Arts  Academy,  the  noble  gift  of  J.  J. 
Albright. 

In  1885,  a  few  earnest  lovers  of  art  formed 
themselves  into  a  club  for  the  practical  study  of 
design  and  painting.  It  became  known  as  the 
Art  Students'  Club.  The  original  members  num- 
bered only  seven.  Their  names  were  Misses  Helen 
M.  Horton,  Harriet  Taber,  Grace  Taber,  Emma 
Johnson,  Mary  Streeter  and  Messrs.  Gates  and 
Cramer.  At  first  a  small  room  was  found  on  the 
corner  of  Court  and  Franklin  streets,  but  as 
the  membership  increased  better  accommoda- 
tion was  needed  and  the  school  was  moved  to 
the  Dennis  Flats  on  Allen  Street.  Annual  exhi- 
bitions were  held. 

In  December,  1891,  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts 
Academy,  mostly  composed  of  business  men 
who  believed  in  art  as  a  necessary  part  of 
advanced  culture,  believing  that  the  best  results 
would  come  from  a  union  of  the  schools,  pro- 
posed a  merger,  offering  to  defray  the  expense 
of  putting  the  rooms  already  secured  by  the  Art 
Students'  Club  in  a  part  of  the  Buffalo  Savings 
Bank,  on  the  corner  of  Washington  and  Broad- 
way, into  a  proper  condition  for  a  first-class  art 
school,  together  with  the  casts  and  other  belong- 

[  66  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


ings  of  the  school  hitherto  kept  by  the  Academy. 
The  offer  was  accepted  and  about  $i,6oo  was 
spent  by  the  Academy  in  the  necessary  altera- 
tions and  improvements.  Thus  the  two  schools 
were  united  under  the  name  of  the  Art  Students' 
League.  It  has  since  found  a  permanent  home 
under  the  wing  of  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Acad- 
emy, of  which  it  constitutes  an  important,  if  not 
an  official,  part. 

In  these  reminiscences  the  writer  has  been 
materially  assisted  by  Mrs.  Robert  Fulton,  for 
many  years  secretary  of  a  kindred  society,  The 
Buffalo  Society  of  Artists,  herself  an  artist 
and  writer.  The  following  communication  the 
writer  takes  pleasure  in  giving  in  her  own 
language : 

"The  Art  Students'  League  opened  its 
classes  January,  1892,  with  George  Bridgman 
as  critic  and  instructor  of  the  life  and  painting 
classes.  The  wisdom  of  this  step  has  been  long 
time  demonstrated,  its  outcome  the  splendid  art 
school  in  the  Academy  with  an  average  of  300 
students,  and  its  various  departments  of  Arts 
and  Crafts  second  to  none  in  this  country,  the 
students  taking  a  majority  of  the  prizes  offered 
by  the  New  York  League  and  other  well-known 

[  67  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

institutes.  Great  credit  should  be  given  to  Miss 
Helen  M.  Horton  who,  from  the  origin  of  the 
small  art  school,  has  aided  and  encouraged  the 
organization  in  every  way. 

''To  Miss  Mary  B.  W.  Coxe,  instructor  for 
many  years  of  the  afternoon  antique  classes,  is 
also  due  much  of  the  success  and  high  standing 
of  the  pupils  of  the  Art  School.  She  studied 
under  Kenyon  Cox,  and  was  a  favorite  pupil 
of  William  M.  Chase." 

This  picture  of  the  school,  though  glowing  in 
color  and  replete  with  graceful  handling,  is  in  no 
material  sense  overdrawn.  It  is  a  well-arranged 
school  with  classes  from  the  beginning  of  study. 
Drawing  from  the  object,  the  antique  as  well  as 
life,  painting,  composition,  and  modeling  are  all 
carefully  taught  by  competent  artists,  and  the 
results  of  a  season's  work  as  exhibited  at  the 
close  are  as  creditable  as  those  of  the  New  York 
schools.  Indeed,  there  is  no  reason  why  they 
should  be  relatively  inferior,  considering  the 
ignorance  of  accepted  beginners  compared  with 
the  requirements  for  admission  into  the  more 
advanced  and  older  institutions,  when  the  pupils 
are  in  the  care  of  equally  well-instructed  artists. 
When  we  add  to  this  other  important  studies  in 

[  68  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

the  department  of  Arts  and  Crafts,  such  as  wood 
carving,  designs  for  wall-paper,  lace,  leather 
embossment,  jewelry,  etc.,  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  scope  of  the  school  takes  in  a  field  much 
needed  in  art, —  for  Art  should  embrace  beauty 
of  every  kind.  Every  human  production  that 
contributes  to  our  aesthetic  sense,  or  the  grati- 
fication of  those  wants  of  the  soul  that  lie  beyond 
the  necessaries  of  life,  should  be  classed  as  Fine 
Art,  even  though  it  does  not  aspire  to  the 
loftier  reaches  of  the  Muses. 

Another  important  development  of  the  spirit 
of  art  in  our  city  was  ''The  Society  of  Artists." 
This  was  the  outcome  of  an  informal  talk  in  the 
studio  of  Mr.  James  Francis  Brown,  that  sub- 
sequently took  definite  form  in  that  of  Mr.  Farn- 
ham,  where  it  was  formally  organized.  It  was 
named  as  above,  The  Society  of  Artists,  and  a 
constitution  and  by-laws  adopted,  with  the 
following  list  of  officers:  President,  James 
Francis  Brown ;  vice-president,  Ammi  M.  Farn- 
ham;  secretary,  Mark  M.  Maycock;  treasurer, 
John  C.  Rother.  It  was  decided  that  the  exhi- 
bitions should  consist  of  colored  work  only, 
but  this  was  later  modified  by  the  additional 
admission  of  black  and  white,  and  sculpture. 

[  69  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


A  council  was  also  elected.  The  members  were: 
Amos  W.  Sangster,  Miss  Rose  Clark,  Mrs. 
John  Clark  Glenny,  Mr.  George  B.  Bridgman, 
and  the  officers  of  the  society.  Two  exhibi- 
tions, one  of  paintings  and  sculpture  and  one 
of  black  and  white,  were  held  in  the  first  year 
(1892).  In  January  of  the  following  year  the 
society  moved  into  the  large  room  formerly 
occupied  by  the  school,  which  the  Buffalo  Fine 
Arts  Academy  had  invited  it  to  make  free  use 
of,  and  here  it  remained  till  by  the  courtesy  of 
the  Academy  suitable  and  commodious  rooms 
were  tendered  and  prepared  for  the  society  in 
the  basement  of  the  Albright  Art  Gallery. 

From  the  beginning,  The  Society  of  Artists 
has  been  a  popular  institution.  As  its  name 
implies,  a  large  portion  of  its  members  are  pro- 
fessionally engaged  in  art,  but  the  greater 
majority  of  its  400  supporters  are  ladies  and 
gentlemen  in  what  is  called  society,  lovers  of  the 
beautiful,  whether  in  concrete  form  or  its  more 
subtile  essence,  served  up  by  the  instructive  and 
eloquent  speakers  after  the  festive  cup  that 
inebriates  not,  and  friendly  exchanges  of  ideas 
on  the  topic  touched  on  at  stated  occasions  of 
the  society's  ''at  home." 

[  70  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


On  one  of  these  festive  occasions,  when  Mr. 
Reginald  C.  Coxe  was  its  president,  the  writer 
was  treated  to  a  great  surprise  in  the  form  of  a 
magnificent  silver  loving-cup  bearing  the  fol- 
lowing inscription : 

GIVEN  TO 

Lars  Gustaf  Sellstedt 

ON  HIS  84th  birthday 
APRIL  30th,  1903 
BY  HIS  FRIENDS,  OLD  AND  YOUNG, 
WITH  LOVE  AND  HONOR 

That  the  success  of  the  society  is  chiefly  due 
to  the  active  efforts  of  the  intelligent  ladies,  of 
whom  the  larger  number  of  members  consists, 
goes  without  saying,  and  where  all  are  entitled 
to  credit,  one  name,  that  of  Mrs.  John  Clark 
Glenny,  should  forever  be  held  in  florescent 
memory  for  the  zeal  and  active  assistance 
she  has  constantly  exhibited,  not  only  in  this 
society  but  in  the  League,  or  Art  School, 
of  which  she  was  in  early  days  a  student. 
Mrs.  John  Clark  Glenny  was  elected  presi- 
dent of  The  Society  of  Artists  in  1894  and 
continued  to  hold  that  office  until  1907. 
The  same  year,  Mrs.  Robert  Fulton  was  made 
secretary  and  she,  too,  continues  to  give  her 

[  71  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

valuable  aid  and  influence  in  the  office  to  which 
she  was  elected. 

The  society's  rooms  are  artistically  furnished. 
They  contain  a  well-selected  art  library  of  about 
500  bound  volumes,  besides  all  the  best  art 
magazines  subscribed  to  by  the  society,  the 
use  of  which  are  free  to  the  members  of  the 
society  and  the  members  of  the  Art  Students' 
League,  for  consultation,  study,  and  reference. 
All  is  in  charge  of  the  assistant  secretary,  Mrs. 
Cleveland  K.  Horton,  a  cultivated  lady,  efficient, 
tactful,  and  polite,  and  of  deserved  popularity. 

The  society  also  has  a  Board  of  Fellowship," 
and  it  is  from  the  interest  on  that  Fellowship 
fund  that  a  prize  is  given  annually  for  the 
picture  selected  by  three  of  its  members  at  the 
spring  exhibition.  During  the  winter,  monthly 
receptions  of  The  Society  of  Artists  are  held 
when  works  of  its  active  members  are  exhibited. 
A  Thumb  Box  exhibition  of  small  sketches  is 
also  held  each  year  in  November. 

The  veracious  historian  of  Buffalo's  early  art 
must  not  forget  that  in  1892  a  small  but  select 
society,  whose  membership  included  professional 
artists,  amateurs,  and  other  intelligent  lovers  of 
art  and  soul  enjoyment,  was  formed  under  the 

[  72  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


name  of  the  ''Bohemian  Sketch  Club."  Its  ex- 
istence v/as  brief  and  its  demise  probably  due  to 
lack  of  cohesion,  or  perhaps  even  to  lack  of  fuel 
to  feed  the  fires  of  genius,  etc.  Whatever  the 
cause,  it  died,  and  its  fires  left  not  even  smolder- 
ing embers. 

Before  the  general  interest  in  art  had  found 
vent,  its  study  introduced  into  the  public 
schools,  and  societies  or  clubs  more  or  less  pre- 
tentious and  short-lived  had  been  formed,  it  is 
pleasant  to  record  the  modest  though  persistent 
efforts  to  start  the  young  beginner  on  the  path 
supposed  to  lead  to  the  temple  of  fame  by  Miss 
Sara  Chesnutwood,  whose  little  institution  has 
survived  through  the  changes  of  decades.  A 
mild  approach  to  a  school  of  art  was  the  studio 
of  the  writer  also,  who  in  the  early  seventies 
admitted  a  few  earnest  young  people  as  pupils. 
It  thus  became  a  small  art-center.  Here  he 
attempted  to  instil  into  their  minds  broad  views 
of  their  profession,  while  he  did  his  best  to  guide 
them  in  its  technique;  especially  were  high 
ideals  insisted  upon,  but  the  mechanical  exe- 
cution was  left  to  the  student's  idiosyncracies 
and  inceptions  after  the  alphabet  of  art  was 
learned. 

[  73  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Among  those  who  honored  him  with  their 
confidence  it  is  gratifying  to  be  able  here  to  point 
out  a  few  who  have  attained  a  mark  far  beyond 
mediocrity.  Mr.  Burr  H.  Nichols  and  Miss 
Annie  I.  Crawford  have  both  acquired  an 
enviable  reputation  among  those  whose  judg- 
ment is  most  entitled  to  value.  Miss  Crawford 
began  her  studies  when  she  was  thirteen  years 
of  age,  and  remained  the  writer's  pupil  for  three 
years,  when  she  left  for  Rome,  completing  there 
and  also  in  Paris  her  European  studies.  She 
became  deeply  attached  to  the  works  of  the 
Italian  renaissance,  and  made  many  successful 
copies  of  works  of  that  period,  but  never  became 
an  imitator  of  any;  and  on  her  return  to 
America  struck  out  for  herself  a  new  path  in 
technique,  the  originality  of  which  and  the 
success  she  attained  in  it  have  deeply  inter- 
ested older  artists. 

The  landscapes  of  Miss  Emma  Kaan,  studied 
from  nature  in  oil  or  water,  are  especially  fine. 
She  shares  the  studio  with  Miss  Crawford,  her 
intimate  friend,  whose  late  pictures  in  pastel 
have  been  remarkable  for  their  beauty  and 
finish. 

As  the  writer  proceeds  in  his  study  of  the 
[   74  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


rising  art  spirit  of  the  city,  the  field  widens 
and  the  difficulty  of  tracing  its  ramifications 
becomes  more  apparent.  Not  only  was  the  love 
of  art,  per  se,  increasing,  but  its  uplifting  influ- 
ence in  the  home  had  begun  to  be  acknowl- 
edged, and  its  necessity  as  a  serious  factor  in 
broader  culture  realized.  Its  commercial  value, 
too,  was  increasing,  not  only  **as  a  thing  of 
beauty  and  a  joy  forever  "  but  as  an  adjunct  to 
the  press,  whether  in  permanent  or  ephemeral 
literature. 

Whether  the  recent  introduction  of  the 
daguerreotype  and  its  rapid  advance  into  pho- 
tography has  in  the  main  been  a  valuable  boon 
to  an  art  worthy  to  be  reckoned  among  the 
higher  achievements  of  man  may  well  be  a 
moot  point,  but  it  is  certain  that  as  an  educating 
element  to  the  masses  in  design,  whether  in 
portraiture,  genre,  or  landscape,  it  had  a  large 
share  in  opening  their  eyes  to  nature's  truth  and 
beauty,  thus  becoming  more  intelligent  judges 
of  the  artists'  work. 

The  ignorance  of  art  prevailing  in  the  early 
days  of  our  Academy  among  some  people  of 
ordinary  intelligence  in  other  matters,  illus- 
trated by  the  following  anecdote,  would  hardly 

[  75  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

be  possible  now :  A  well-dressed  man  called  upon 
the  writer,  then  superintendent  of  the  Buffalo 
Fine  Arts  Academy,  and  informed  him  that  his 
daughter  had  just  completed  a  fine  picture 
which  she  was  willing  to  loan  to  the  Gallery. 
Reading  doubt,  probably,  in  his  countenance, 
the  visitor  assured  him  that  it  was  a  real  fine 
picture,  that  the  Academy  would  be  glad  enough 
to  have.  Being  told  that  no  picture  would  be 
received  without  previous  inspection  by  the 
superintendent,  he  offered  to  bring  it.  The  next 
day  he  came  loaded  with  a  large  canvas  intombed 
in  a  sheet.  Having  carefully  unrolled  its  cere- 
ments, he  stood  the  picture  up  against  the  wall, 
with  full  confidence  of  approval.  One  look  was 
sufficient ;  he  was  told  the  Gallery  does  not  want 
it.  ''Why  not?"  he  gasped.  "It  is  not  good 
enough,"  was  the  reply.  "Why  is  it  not  good 
enough  ?  "  was  his  next  question.  "  Because  it  is 
not  good  at  all,  it  is  not  original,  it  is  not 
natural."  "  Is  not  that  a  good  sky  ?  "  "  Did  you 
ever  see  a  sky  like  that  ? "  was  asked.  "  No,  but, 
you  see,  this  is  only  a  painted  sky  and  of  course 
it  is  not  just  like  real."  "Did  you  ever  see  trees 
like  those  or  could  you  tell  what  trees  they  are 
meant  for?"  "No,  but  they  are  only  painted 

[  76  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


trees."  "Those  horses,  there?  "  (The  picture  was 
a  copy  of  Gainsborough's''  Crossing  the  Brook.") 
''Well,"  he  said,  "of  course  they  don't  look  like 
real  horses."  "Now,  you  see  for  yourself  that 
there  is  nothing  natural  about  it.  A  picture 
should  resemble  nature  to  be  a  scene  in  nature." 
He  said  no  more,  and  requesting  that  the  canvas 
might  remain  till  he  came  for  it,  he  took  his 
leave. 

The  discovery  by  Daguerre  is  still  within  the 
memory  of  the  oldest  among  us.  Only  three- 
quarters  of  a  century  has  elapsed  since  Morse,  a 
portrait-painter  and  teacher  of  art  in  New  York 
City,  practically  relinquished  his  easel  for  the 
study  of  two  scientific  subjects,  one  of  which  has 
made  his  name  immortal.  Both  seem  to  have 
been  nearly  twin-born  ideas  of  his  brain,  the 
magnetic  telegraph  and  the  practical  develop- 
ment of  Daguerre's  discovery — two  first  links 
of  a  chain  of  surprises  with  which  the  latter  half 
of  the  century  was  to  be  filled.  They  have  ban- 
ished time  and  space  and  forged  imperishable 
chains  which  by  common  interest  and  enlight- 
ened public  opinion  have  bound  the  great 
nations  of  the  world  together.  Both  rest  on 
scientific  ground,  and  while  within  one  we 

[    77  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


recognize  our  kinship  on  earth,  the  other  has 
enabled  us  to  count  the  stars  and  study  their 
history ! 

True,  photography  cannot  project  the  poet's 
idea,  nor  construct  the  architect's  plan,  nor 
delineate  the  ideal  cathedral  of  his  imagination, 
but  it  can  do  what  the  type  does  for  the  author — 
render  permanent  the  thought  in  the  faithful 
reproduction  of  the  artist's  ideals;  nay,  live 
while  nought  of  the  temple  but  ruins  remain,  the 
statue  destroyed,  or  the  canvas  rotten. 

Nevertheless,  though  it  cannot  justly  be 
classed  among  the  fine  arts,  in  the  hands  of  one 
of  poetic  sentiment  it  may  be  the  means  of  true 
artistic  expression,  as  is  evidenced  in  some 
charming  landscape  work  and  even  in  por- 
traiture. 

Except  in  the  school  of  Andrews,  mentioned 
previously,  little  but  portrait  work  was  at- 
tempted in  Buffalo  at  the  earlier  development 
of  its  art,  and  from  him  or  his  pupils  came 
nothing  worthy  of  the  name,  since  all  were 
copied  from  engravings,  even  though  often 
agreeably  colored.  None  were  from  out-of-door 
studies,  or  original.  Wilgus  had  painted  his 
''Ichabod  Crane"  in  Morse's  School  at  New 

[  78  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


York,  and  his  noble  attempts  in  landscape  were 
never  finished.  All  else  of  any  note  remembered 
was  a  clever  genre  picture  by  Le  Clear  till  the 
arrival  of  W.  H.  Beard.  The  earliest  landscapes 
from  nature  in  the  writer's  memory  were  by 
Joseph  Meeker,  who  struggled  without  much 
success  with  out-door  nature  on  the  wooded 
banks  of  Conjockety  Creek,  now  a  part  of  Forest 
Lawn,  then  Granger's  Grove.  Mr.  Meeker  soon 
moved  to  St.  Louis,  where  in  after  years  he 
blossomed  out  into  quite  a  successful  landscape 
artist  and  something  of  a  leader  of  art  in  that 
city. 

The  natural  scenery  about  Buffalo  was  little 
calculated  to  awaken  interest  in  landscape,  and 
the  influence  of  Turner's  poetic  treatment  of 
common  nature,  Corot's  atmospheric  marvelous 
subtleties,  his  broad  and  scientific  treatment  of 
her  most  beautiful  if  evanescent  features,  or  even 
the  less  ideal  products  of  the  so-called  Barbizon 
School,  had  not  yet  been  made  familiar  to,  or 
made  the  impression  on,  our  art  idea  that  recent 
and  repeated  European  travel  has  done.  It  is 
scarcely  too  much  to  say  that  the  arrival  of  Mr. 
Edward  Moran  in  the  early  seventies  gave  the 
first  real  impetus  to  out-of-door  work  among  our 

[  79  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


then  resident  artists,  although  some  excellent 
interpretations  of  nature  in  landscape  had  been 
wrought  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Beard  a  decade  before, 
but  they  were  generally  studio  pictures  from 
memory  or  ideal  compositions  in  connection 
with  his  domestic  animals  or  imaginary  deni- 
zens of  out-of-door  nature.  Some  others  there 
were,  but  these  works  were  not  of  sufficient 
interest  to  require  mention. 

For  a  long  time  the  public  lovers  of  art  had 
been  easily  satisfied  with  the  pabulum  with 
which  it  was  served  in  the  obscure  days  of  its 
decadence,  while  as  yet  there  was  no  promise  of 
the  measures  of  excellence  to  which  it  might  be 
brought  by  men  of  genius  who  dared  to  free 
themselves  from  the  shackles  of  rules  often 
deduced  from  the  study  of  mediocre  examples  of 
the  works  of  painters  of  greater  or  less  celebrity. 
These  men  found  in  the  study  of  Nature  pure 
and  simple,  the  guide  to  the  true  secret  of  her 
charms  and  her  poetic  value. 

The  liberty  thus  obtained  gave  rise  to  many 
diversities  of  manner  of  interpretation,  according 
to  the  idiosyncracy  of  the  artist,  though  all 
claimed  Nature  as  their  mistress. 

During  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth 

[    80  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


century  the  iconoclast  had  his  own  way,  the 
house  refurnished,  all  old  things  relegated  to 
a  mental  attic,  never  more  to  be  uncovered 
from  the  dust  of  ages.  Nor  has  art  escaped 
this  general  house-cleaning;  but  while  the 
intelligent  observer  admits  that  good  has  been 
done  by  this  second  renaissance,  it  ought  not  to 
be  forgotten  that  in  the  general  destruction  of 
hoary  idols  some  valuable  ideals  may  have  suf- 
fered. The  reformer  is  seldom  satisfied,  he  would 
be  regenerator  also ;  it  is  here  he  sometimes  dis- 
plays lamentable  ignorance  of  the  first  principles 
of  art. 

Sometimes  a  man  of  talent  selects  a  new 
path  which,  in  spite  of  its  deviation  from  well- 
trod  and  established  roads,  may  be  a  short  cut 
to  a  lovely  aspect  of  nature's  beautiful  variety; 
but  this  requires  a  perfection  of  technique  and 
keenness  of  observation  possessed  by  few,  and 
stamps  its  owner  a  man  of  genius,  and  it  is  the 
privilege  of  genius  to  make  its  own  rules.  In  such 
cases  the  less-gifted  imitator  generally  comes  to 
grief.  History  tells  us  that  the  earliest  attempts 
at  art  were  decorative  and  descriptive,  and 
though  this  is  no  place  to  trace  its  development 
into  poetic  significance,  or  its  use  in  the  service 

[  81  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


of  religion  as  exhibited  in  most  of  the  works  of 
the  so-called  preraphaelite  painters,  attention 
may  be  called  to  their  successors  who  discovered 
that  the  greatest  art  consisted  in  the  true  union 
of  nature  and  poesy,  the  work  of  an  exalted 
imagination,  as  shown  in  those  of  Leonardo 
da  Vinci,  Raphael,  Michelangelo,  and  their  con- 
temporaries. These  were  the  halcyon  days 
of  the  humanists,  when  classical  learning  and 
art  were  in  the  ascendant  and  appreciated; 
days  when  gigantic  intellect  occupied  itself 
with  picture-making,  architecture,  sculpture, 
poesy,  and  the  days  that  saw  the  birth  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  the  cartoons,  the  marvels  of  the 
Sistine  Chapel ;  of  Dante  and  of  Shakespeare. 

Not  many  years  ago  a  brilliant  philistine, 
little  versed  in  plastic  art,  invented  a  catchword 
which  has  not,  to  say  the  least,  been  helpful  to 
real  art,  though  perhaps  of  no  real  injury,  since 
its  vagueness  is  equal  to  its  brevity — "Art  for 
art's  sake."  Though  lacking  in  sense,  the 
catchword  has  misled  many  a  shallow  brain  into 
adopting  it  as  almost  a  truism.  Another  poor 
artist,  but  clever  writer,  says,  "  Painting  is  not 
an  intellectual  pursuit."  These  both  belong  to 
the  same  category  and  may  well  be  allowed  to 

[    82  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


pass  into  the  same  limbo,  for  it  is  certain  that 
artists  worthy  of  the  name  are  repudiating  the 
heresy.  No  one  who  visits  the  pubhc  art  exhi- 
bitions of  any  country  will  fail  to  note  this.  It  is 
true  that  many  pictures  in  some  of  our  exhibi- 
tions of  a  few  years  ago  gave  a  sort  of  sign  of 
what  may  be  termed  atavism  (a  return  to  the 
darker  days),  but  we  are  rapidly  changing  all 
that. 

It  was  the  good  fortune  of  the  writer  to 
become  acquainted  with  the  late  Edward  Moran 
on  a  steamboat  excursion  on  the  Niagara  River. 
Sketchbook  in  hand,  he  stood  near  the  bow  of 
the  boat  keenly  noticing  all  invitations  of  the 
magnificent  stream  to  pose  for  his  pencil.  After- 
wards he  concluded  to  spend  some  time  in  our 
city;  and  being  offered  the  hospitality  of  the 
writer's  house  and  studio,  he  proved  during  a 
part  of  the  summer  a  delightful  and  companion- 
able guest. 

For  various  reasons,  the  Canadian  side  of  the 
lake  had  become  familiar,  especially  had  an  old 
dilapidated  windmill  standing  near  the  lake 
shore  on  a  rocky  ledge,  dominated  by  a  pictur- 
esque sand-dune  and  a  few  scattered  trees ;  this 
seemed  a  good  motive  for  a  landscape,  and  this 

[    83  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


the  writer  and  guest  concluded  jointly  to  inves- 
tigate. There  was  at  the  time  no  public  convey- 
ance by  which  it  could  be  reached,  but  the  dif- 
ficulty was  solved  by  John  Allen,  Jr.,  then  in 
charge  of  the  Western  Transportation  Company, 
always  a  friend  of  art,  who  sent  them  up  to 
Windmill  Point  on  one  of  the  company's  tugs. 
Several  sketches  were  made,  and  at  least  one 
large  picture  was  painted  by  this  distinguished 
artist.  Mr.  Famham,  then  a  pupil  in  the  writer's 
studio,  followed  suit;    and  after  the  railroad 
skirting  the  shore  was  built  and  access  made 
convenient,  the  place  became  a  favorite  camp- 
ing-ground for  many  art  students  of  Buffalo. 
Later,  other  motives  were  found,  and  the  fashion 
of  composing  studio  landscapes  began  to  go  into 
a  deserved  oblivion. 

To  this  result  contributed  also  the  master- 
pieces in  landscape  which  the  increasing  re- 
sources enabled  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy 
to  possess,  and  which  became  concrete  proofs 
to  the  earnest  art  student  that  our  common 
nature,  if  seen  through  true  artistic  eyes,  could 
furnish  every  needed  motive  to  the  highest 
reaches  of  art. 

Story-telling  art,  much  favored  by  artists  of 
[  84  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


the  earlier  days  of  the  century,  though  not 
extinct,  has  ceased  to  be  popular.  It  is  now 
almost  wholly  in  the  hands  of  the  illustrator  of 
books  and  magazines,  where  it  has  become  an 
almost  necessary  adjunct,  often  requiring  the 
intelligence  and  skill  of  artists  of  the  first  class. 
When,  however,  the  painter  invents  his  own 
story,  or  expresses  his  own  poetic  ideals,  in  the 
best  of  technique  with  nature's  proper  environ- 
ments studied  direct  from  the  fountain  head, 
whether  in  studio  or  plein-air,  with  proper 
chiaroscuro  and  color-value,  his  work  will  be 
duly  appreciated,  though  it  may  lack  the  cele- 
brated signature  so  highly  valued  by  the  col- 
lector. 

Water-colors,  especially  when  they  seek  to 
vie  with  oil  in  realism,  have  a  charm  of  their  own, 
delicately  suggestive  to  the  receptive  mind  of 
the  soul  of  Nature,  leaving  the  imagination  at 
liberty  to  complete  the  pictures.  As  yet  but 
little  of  this  has  taken  root  in  our  city,  but  there 
are  happy  signs  that  even  this  refinement  of  art 
may  not  be  long  wanting. 

Portrait-painting  has  always  been  prominent 
over  other  art  in  our  city.  Perhaps  with  the  old 
pictorial  writings,  and  merely  decorative  work, 

[  85  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


it  was  one  of  the  earliest  efforts  in  human  evolu- 
tion towards  the  ideal.  At  least  the  remains  of 
the  most  cultured  nations  of  antiquity  go  far  to 
indicate  that  this  may  have  been  the  fact. 

In  a  city  as  young  as  Buffalo,  men  were  too 
busy  with  its  material  growth  to  give  them- 
selves to  intangible  and  artistic  study;  but  in 
the  absence  of  present  mechanical  or  scientific 
methods  of  perpetuating  their  identity,  the 
limner's  art  was  the  only  means  to  employ ;  and 
thus,  not  only  was  occupation  given  the  artist, 
but  it  enabled  him,  nay,  compelled  him,  to  use 
that  close  study  which  has  not  only  led  to  the 
best  of  portraits,  but  furnished  him  the  needed 
deftness  of  hand  and  acquaintance  with  the 
subtleties  of  color  and  light  and  shade  and 
values  necessary  for  the  production  of  larger, 
and,  to  him,  more  important  works. 

Although  the  art  of  some  of  our  early  por- 
trait-painters has  not  been  eclipsed  by  their  suc- 
cessors, a  general  advance  cannot  be  questioned ; 
to  this  improved  condition,  credit  is  greatly  due 
the  excellent  teaching  of  our  Academy  school, 
where  some  of  our  most  prominent  men  and 
women  began  their  studies.  There  Dufner  and 
Wilcox  received  their  first  instructions  in  art. 

[  86  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


There,  too,  began  Mrs.  John  C.  Glenny  and 
Mrs.  Charles  Gary,  both  good  portrait-painters. 
The  portrait  painted  by  Mrs.  Gary  of  her  friend, 
the  late  Charlotte  Mulligan,  he  rdmembers  as 
wonderfully  true,  a  sad  poem  full  of  love  and 
resignation  and  looking  as  if  painted  through 
tears.  Miniature  painting,  which  since  the 
discovery  of  Daguerre  seems  for  many  years 
to  have  gone  out  of  fashion,  has  of  late  had 
a  revival.  With  the  exception  of  Mr.  Dicken- 
son, referred  to  before,  the  writer  can  recall 
none  practicing  this  art  in  Buffalo  till  the 
arrival  of  Miss  Clara  E.  Sackett  from  her  studies 
in  Europe.  Her  excellent  work  in  this  direction 
is  well  known  and  recognized.  Mrs.  Anna  Belle 
Kindlund,  a  talented  young  woman  native 
to  Buffalo,  has  lately  devoted  her  time  to 
miniatures  also,  and  with  much  success,  hav- 
ing by  her  exhibited  work  in  New  York  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  metropolitan  art  critics  by 
a  departure  from  the  common  in  her  technique, 
giving  her  pictiires  a  charm  of  their  own. 

Engraving,  to  a  limited  extent  and  chiefly 
for  commercial  purposes,  was  practiced  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Courier  Company  by  Mr. 
Benjamin  Van  Duzee,  who  also  had  studied 

[    87  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


portrait -painting  under  Mr.  Wilgus  and  others. 
Later,  a  good  deal  of  attention  was  given  to 
etching  on  copper,  Mr.  Sangster,  mentioned 
heretofore,  having  produced  a  series  of  interest- 
ing views  of  the  surroundings  about  Lake  Erie 
and  Niagara  River.  Mr.  Farnham  also  did  some 
etching  besides  his  landscape  painting  while 
resident  here. 

When  the  bequest  of  the  late  Mr.  Jesse 
Ketchum  in  regard  to  medals  and  testimonials 
for  the  public  schools  was  to  be  executed  by  his 
executors,  the  late  Bishop  A.  Cleveland  Coxe 
and  the  testator's  son-in-law,  the  writer  was 
requested  to  furnish  the  drawings  from  which 
the  medal  was  to  be  cut,  As  there  existed  no 
portrait  or  photograph  of  the  testator  except  in 
full  face,  and  a  profile  likeness  being  required, 
the  task  was  far  from  easy,  but  in  the  end  proved 
a  success,  the  writer  having  been  well  acquainted 
with  the  old  gentleman.  The  reverse  was  sug- 
gested by  the  bishop  and  consisted  in  a  youth 
receiving  light  from  the  city  represented  by  a 
young  lady  in  Greek  costume.  The  engraving  of 
the  testimonial  was  confided  to  the  American 
Bank  Note  Company,  the  medal  was  cut  at  the 
mint  in  Philadelphia,  Mr.  J.  N.  Larned  and 

[  88  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

the  writer  being  commissioned  to  go  to  New 
York  and  Philadelphia  to  make  the  necessary 
arrangements.  This  little  jaunt  is  marked  as  a 
white  day,  since  in  it  was  confirmed  a  friendship 
for  life  with  one  of  Buffalo's  most  valued 
citizens. 

The  history  of  the  art  of  color-printing,  at 
present  in  vogue  in  book-making,  is  part  of  the 
''art  preservative  of  all  arts,"  and  does  not 
properly  belong  to  the  initial  object  of  these 
reminiscences;  but  the  writer  feels  justified  in 
calling  attention  to  its  intelligent  develop- 
ment in  the  office  of  the  Buffalo  Express,  under 
the  present  owners  and  directors.  Special  notice 
is  due  to  the  ingenious  inventions  of  Mr.  Mat- 
thews of  a  sort  of  tabulated  direction  as  to  the 
values  and  harmonious  disposition  of  colors 
which  enables  the  workman  to  arrive  at  some- 
thing very  near  perfection ;  but,  of  course,  this 
is  a  subject  for  a  whole  volume  and  can  only  be 
hinted  at  here. 

In  the  same  connection  it  may  be  of  interest 
to  the  public  to  recall  the  enormous  quantity  of 
show  printing  in  the  Courier  establishment  in 
Mr.  Warren's  time,  when  that  plant  produced  a 
moiety  at  least  of  all  the  artistic  show-bills  in 

[  89  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

the  United  States,  doing  nearly  all  of  Barnum's 
requirements  of  that  nature,  besides  printing 
his  book. 

Another  subject  of  Buffalo's  art  may  here  be 
noticed  — the  beautiful  postal  advertisements 
designed  by  several  of  our  women  artists. 

Architecture  as  a  fine  art  was  one  of  the 
luxuries  the  inhabitants  of  Western  New  York 
seem  to  have  chosen  to  dispense  with  altogether. 
The  early  traveler  on  the  Erie  Canal  might 
now  and  then  behold,  as  the  boat  leisurely 
pursued  its  way,  a  glittering  spire  of  a  church  or 
the  cupola  of  a  courthouse  radiant  in  brand- 
new  tin,  but  this  was  the  only  tribute  of  respect 
paid  the  noble  art.  Nor  need  one  carp  at  that, 
for  ornate  architecture  must  wait  for  material 
prosperity  even  though  the  development  of  the 
higher  qualities  of  our  mind  may  recognize  its 
desirability.  Here  and  there  in  Buffalo,  however, 
might  be  seen  some  feeble  attempts  to  go  beyond 
absolute  necessity:  a  Greek  portico  with  pedi- 
ment and  columns  of  wood  occasionally  broke 
the  monotony  of  the  square  boxes  which  our 
forefathers  thought  good  enough  for  all  practi- 
cal uses.  Some  of  the  churches  also  bore  evidence 
of  the  desire  for  better  things.  Perhaps,  in  the 

[  90  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


earliest  years  of  the  fourth  decade  of  the  last 
century,  the  old  St.  Louis  Church,  a  roman- 
esque  brick  building,  was  the  most  entitled  to 
notice  in  this  respect.  Its  interior,  too,  had  the 
arrangement  and  air  of  an  old-country  Catholic 
church,  and  the  writer  remembers  well  with 
what  pleasure  he  enjoyed  the  sight  of  a  fine 
copy  of  Ruben's  ''Descent  from  the  Cross" 
on  one  of  its  walls.  He  has  later,  when  more 
capable  of  judging  of  the  merits  of  a  work  of 
art,  sat  through  the  whole  morning  service  in 
the  cathedral  of  Antwerp  in  full  view  of  the 
original,  with  senses  filled  with  music  and  in- 
cense, all  calculated  to  raise  the  soul  to  its 
highest  pitch;  but  he  doubts  if  he  got  more 
real  enjoyment  from  that  noble  picture  than 
the  copy  in  St.  Louis  Church  used  to  give  him 
in  his  time  of  ignorance. 

Old  Trinity  was  an  attempt  at  Greek  style, 
and  Doctor  Lord's  old  church]  on  Genesee 
and  Pearl  streets,  a  sort  of  nondescript  in  a 
similar  style,  though  elliptical  in  form,  thought 
to  be  in  accord  with  the  reverend  pastor's 
own  architecttiral  ideas.  Doctor  Johnson's  cot- 
tage, somewhat  original  in  form  and  structure, 
was  not  without  a  certain  picturesque  pretti- 

[  91  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


ness.  The  First  Methodist  Church  on  the  site 
now  occupied  by  the  Masonic  Temple  on 
Niagara  Street  was  an  ugly  stone  structure 
without  pretense  to  architectural  suggestion, 
though  later  a  bell- tower  was  added,  which 
was  afterwards  destroyed  by  lightning. 

The  building  of  St.  John's  Church,  in  1846, 
brought  to  the  notice  of  the  writer  two  com- 
peting architects  residing  in  the  city,  Messrs. 
Calvin  N.  Otis  and  Henry  G.  Harrison.  Both 
presented  plans  for  the  church,  and  that  of  the 
former  was  accepted,  perhaps  because  it  was 
more  simple  and  would  cost  less.  A  large  hotel 
now  covers  the  ground  on  the  southeast  corner 
of  Swan  and  Washington  streets.  ''Sic  transit.'' 
The  church  was  never  a  handsome  edifice,  and  in 
time  was  thought  to  be  badly  located  by  some  of 
its  congregation,  a  division  of  which  took  place, 
and  the  wealthier  part  built  on  Delaware 
Avenue,  uniting  afterwards  with  Trinity's  con- 
gregation, which  also  had  outgrown  their  old 
quarters.  The  remaining  part  of  St.  John's  con- 
gregation could  not  afford  to  keep  up  the  church 
and  sold  it,  to  move  up-town  also. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  years  Mr.  Harrison, 
after  having  built  some  of  the  better  class  of 

[  92  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

residences,  left  for  New  York,  where  his  talents 
found  more  scope.  He  was  an  Englishman  of 
decided  imagination,  a  well-informed  man,  al- 
though somewhat  eccentric.  He  afterwards 
became  the  architect  of  Mr.  Stewart's  Memorial 
Church  on  Long  Island. 

Mr.  Otis  joined  the  army  in  defense  of  the 
Union  as  captain  of  volunteers,  and  at  its  con- 
clusion made  his  home  in  Cuba,  N.  Y.,  where  he 
died. 

Perhaps  the  earliest  example  in  Buffalo  of 
architecture  worthy  of  the  name  was  the  new 
St.  Paul's,  by  Mr.  Upjohn,  the  architect  of 
Trinity  Church  in  New  York,  though  this,  in 
point  of  fact,  is  not  a  part  of  our  city's  art,  since 
it,  as  also  the  St.  Joseph's  Cathedral  with  its 
beautiful  historic  windows,  were  the  work  of 
artists  who  did  not  claim  Buffalo  as  their  home ; 
still  they  are  both  noble  proofs  of  the  increasing 
art  spirit  of  our  city  even  in  its  youthful  days. 
The  increase  of  wealth  that  has  made  possible 
the  present  appearance  of  the  city  was  then 
scarcely  dreamt  of  by  the  most  hopeful.  Mean- 
time the  few  architects  the  city  boasted  did 
what  they  could  to  foster  the  desire  for  more 
beauty  in  new  private  dwellings,  or  for  improve- 

[  93  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

ments  in  the  older  ones.  There  lived  in  the  city  a 
couple  of  architects,  the  Rose  Brothers,  English- 
men, who  with  many  oddities  of  manner  were 
credited  with  superior  knowledge  in  their  pro- 
fession, which  they  diligently  pursued  when  they 
were  not  fishing  on  Black  Rock  pier.  The  archi- 
tects of  the  costly  Fargo  mansion  were  from 
Boston.  Mr.  Ferguson  superintended  the  work. 
Houses  of  this  style  are  now  out  of  date. 
Later  came  Mr.  Richard  A.  Waite,  a  well- 
appointed  artist,  and  still  later  some  of  our 
own  young  students  returned  from  the  Parisian 
school  with  excellent  training  and  brimful  of 
new  ideas.  Young  Marlin  died  early;  but  we 
still  have  the  brothers  Kent,  Edward  and 
William,  the  latter  being  now  a  member  of  an 
important  firm  in  New  York ;  George  Gary,  and 
Green  &  Wicks,  the  architects  of  the  Albright 
Art  Gallery,  home  of  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts 
Academy,  still  in  active  business  and  constantly 
employed  in  their  profession.  To  these  may  be 
added  Mr.  Edgar  A.  P.  Newcomb,  to  whose 
genius  the  city  owes  some  of  its  finest  residences ; 
and  doubtless  there  are  many  others  of  equal 
acquirements  not  personally  known  to  the 
writer. 

[  94  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


As  the  city  continued  to  grow  in  popularity 
and  wealth  a  gradual  improvement  in  its 
appearance  became  marked.  New  buildings  of 
a  better  type  took  the  places  of  the  old  utilita- 
rian structures ;  but  it  was  not  till  a  new  genera- 
tion had  risen,  and  the  city's  commercial  ad- 
vantages had  brought  new  blood  full  of  vigor  and 
enterprise,  that  a  marvelous  change  in  its 
appearance  was  wrought.  A  recent  traveler  has 
placed  Buffalo  only  second  to  Washington  in 
beauty  among  all  the  cities  of  the  United  States ; 
and  who,  after  having  leisurely  walked  along 
Delaware  Avenue  on  a  bright  midsimimer  day, 
will  dispute  his  dictum  ?  Civic  pride  boils  over  in 
beholding  the  generous  gift  of  Mr.  Albright,  not 
only  for  the  fact  that  we  have  among  us  so 
liberal  a  friend  to  art,  but  also  for  the  possession 
of  that  noble  palace  of  marble — that  beautiful 
suggestion  of  the  halcyon  days  of  Greece  — 
which  is  the  work  of  our  own  home  architects ! 

The  times  have  indeed  changed!  No  longer 
will  wealth  entrust  the  building  of  its  home  to 
the  common  builder.  The  artist's  idea  is  now 
invoked,  and  instead  of  mere  utility  to  satisfy 
necessities,  beautiful  villas  nestle  ivy-draped  in 
graceful  verdure  throughout  many  residence  dis- 

[  95  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


tricts ;  and  even  the  humbler  homes  of  our  hard- 
working bread-winners  in  the  remoter  parts  of 
the  city  bear  witness  to  an  awakened  love  of  the 
beautiful,  which  fairly  justifies  the  saying  that 
Buffalo  is  a  city  of  happy  homes. 


[  96  ] 


V 

It  has  been  thought  best  not  to  interrupt  the 
narrative  of  Buffalo's  art  development  by  per- 
sonals, but  as  history  cannot  be  complete  with- 
out its  human  interest,  a  few  pages  will  be 
devoted  to  reminiscences  of  the  lives  and 
characteristics  of  some  artists  and  promoters  of 
the  art  spirit  of  our  city. 

Among  the  early  lovers  and  devotees  of  art, 
none  was  more  enthusiastic  than  the  late  Fred- 
erick Young,  of  Williams ville.  True,  few  of  the 
present  generation  who  were  acquainted  with 
him  knew  him  as  an  artist,  for  it  was  only  in 
youth  and  early  manhood  that  he  thought  of 
adopting  art  as  a  profession.  Failing  health, 
which  could  only  be  arrested  by  out-of-door  life 
and  occupation,  compelled  the  relinquishment 
of  his  beloved  art  studies;  he  laid  aside  his 
palette  and  brushes  to  take  up  the  material  life 
of  a  farmer,  but  though  he  managed  fairly  well  a 
fine  farm  inherited  from  his  father,  who  prob- 
ably had  small  sympathy  with  his  son's  ideals, 
his  whole  soul  protested  against  a  bucolic2or 
pastoral  life. 

In  point  of  fact,  his  ego  lived  in  a  dreamland 
[  97  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


of  the  beautiful,  whether  expressed  in  poesy, 
music,  nature,  or  art.  The  writer,  who  fully 
enjoyed  his  friendship,  will  ever  remember  him 
as  one  of  the  gentlest  and  loveliest  of  men.  His 
farm  at  Williamsville  was  at  all  times  an  hos- 
pitable resort  for  artists,  people  of  culture,  and 
men  of  science,  for,  not  only  was  his  home  situ- 
ated in  a  grove  of  magnificent  trees  pleasing  to 
the  eye,  but  in  the  limestone  quarries  on  his 
farm  and  that  of  his  elder  brother  was  to  be 
found  much  to  interest  the  latter  class;  every 
stone  was  a  tale  from  a  world  existing  eons 
before  the  appearance  of  man.  Here  were  fossils 
found  nowhere  else;  here  once  lived  and  died 
the  eurypterida;  and  here  now  was  the  ever- 
obliging  owner  ready  to  aid  his  scientific  friends 
in  finding  the  coveted  treasures. 

When  the  labors  of  the  day  were  ended,  it 
was  touching  to  behold  the  artist-farmer  (for 
artist  he  was  in  his  soul  notwithstanding  the  crass 
out-of-door  duties)  on  his  veranda  in  muddy 
boots  and  overalls,  with  his  numerous  and 
delightful  family  and  intimate  friends,  just  as 
he  came  from  attending  to  the  needs  of  his  cattle 
and  chickens,  seated  with  his  beloved  guitar, 
tenderly  touching  its  strings  in  accordance  with 

[  98  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


his  sweet  and  mellow  voice,  his  magnificent 
black  eyes  courting  the  coming  stars,  while 
singing  Moore's  melodies,  and  other  pathetic 
records  of  the  heart,  among  which  the  faint  echo 
of  ''Meet  Me  by  Moonlight  Alone"  still  lingers 
in  the  writer's  memory.  Ah !  it  is  not  long  since 
his  gentle  spirit,  after  an  earthly  pilgrimage  of 
three  score  years  and  ten,  was  permitted  to  join 
the  angelic  choir  which  was  probably  seldom 
absent  from  his  inward  senses,  and  which,  per- 
haps, often  caused  him  to  forget  everything. 

There  are  artists  who  cannot  paint,  poets 
that  cannot  express  ''fine  phrensy,"  idealists 
who  fail  in  practice,  delightful  companions  in 
all  sorts  of  clever  workers.  Mr.  Young  was  an 
eminent  example  of  this  class,  and  thus  it  was 
that  to  the  company  of  cultivated  people  of  the 
finest  fiber  he  was  ever  a  welcome  addition. 

The  writer  first  made  his  acquaintance 
through  Mr.  Thomas  Le  Clear,  with  whom  he 
was  on  the  friendliest  footing.  The  meeting 
with  Mr.  Le  Clear  as  an  artist  has  been  already 
described,  but  a  few  words  of  respect  to  his 
memory  as  a  man  are  justly  due. 

The  name  suggests  a  French  origin.  The 
writer  has  no  data  at  hand-as  to  where  the  family 

[  99  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


came  from,  but  it  is  believed  that  it  was  of 
Canadian  origin.  At  any  rate,  there  was  about 
Mr.  Le  Clear,  personally,  much  that  pointed  to 
the  best  of  the  French  characteristics.  This 
idea  was,  perhaps,  in  part,  suggested  by  his 
slight  and  agile  figure  and  polish  of  manner, 
which  made  him  conspicuous.  In  reality,  what- 
ever his  origin,  he  was  ever  a  model  American 
gentleman  in  every  respect.  A  sincere  and  reli- 
able friend,  and,  though  a  good  hater  when  he 
thought  his  cause  good,  he  never  permitted  his 
dislike  to  another  artist  to  warp  his  judgment 
of  his  work  or  descend  to  ignoble  detraction. 
While  the  writer  and  he  were  looking  at  a  por- 
trait by  a  man  he  deeply  disliked,  after  carefully 
examining  the  picture  he  broke  out,  Dem 
'm;  I  hate  him,  but  it  is  good."  He  was  a  fair 
critic  of  other  men's  work,  and  always  ready  to 
point  out  the  best  in  it. 

When  Mr.  Le  Clear  arrived  in  Buffalo  with 
his  young  wife  and  a  six-months-old  daughter, 
he  for  a  while  occupied  a  modest  home  in  the 
lower  part  of  the  town  on  Carroll  Street ;  but  in 
time  he  was  able  to  buy  a  small  house  on 
Franklin  Street,  a  much  more  desirable  locality, 
where  his  neighbors  were  among  the  most 

[   100  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


respected  in  the  city,  and  where  he  could  gather 
around  him  his  family  and  enjoy  the  comforts 
of  a  home  suitable  to  his  refined  personality. 

Here  his  hospitality  was  unbounded  and  in 
this  he  was  fully  sustained  by  his  wife,  a  highly 
cultivated  lady  of  excellent  family.  There  was 
no  more  desirable  home  to  visit  than  theirs.  The 
writer  recalls  an  instance  of  Mr.  Le  Clear's  ''hos- 
pitable intent"  which  tried  his  patience,  but 
which  was  borne  with  admirable  equanimity. 
An  old  artist  who  had  wealthy  admirers  in  the 
city  was  invited  to  paint  the  portraits  of  some 
of  them.  As  Mr.  M.  was  an  old  gentleman,  Mr. 
Le  Clear  invited  him  to  make  his  home  with  him 
during  his  stay,  as  he  thought  he  could  make 
him  more  comfortable  than  he  would  be  at  a 
hotel.  He  accepted,  and  the  best  spare  room  was 
allotted  to  his  use,  and  his  meals  were  taken 
with  the  family.  The  old  artist  brought  with 
him  a  guitar  on  which  he  used  to  play  in  the 
evenings  and  at  other  leisure  times.  Being  an  old 
bachelor  of  an  unsocial  disposition,  the  growing 
children  sometimes  were  an  annoyance  to  him, 
and  caused  him  to  frequently  grumble  and  find 
fault.  This  was  bravely  borne  until  he  was  ready 
to  leave,  when  he  asked  for  his  account.  The 

[    101  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


poor  man's  home  was  in  a  part  of  New  England 
where  free  entertainment  of  strangers  was  un- 
common, and  doubtless  his  surprise  was  great 
when  he  found  that  he  could  not  pay,  having 
been  an  invited  guest.  Mr.  Le  Clear,  in  speaking 

to  the  writer  about  it,  exclaimed,   !  did 

he  think  I  kept  a  boarding  house?" 

Later,  after  the  writer's  visit  to  Europe,  in 
1854,  on  his  arrival  in  Buffalo,  Mr.  Le  Clear 
extended  an  invitation  to  him  to  stay  at  his 
home  until  he  could  get  settled,  and  one  of  the 
pleasantest  fortnights  in  his  life  was  enjoyed 
there. 

At  this  time  Mr.  William  H.  Beard  was  pre- 
paring to  go  to  Europe  for  improvement  in  his 
art,  and  as  he  thought  a  little  French  would  come 
in  handy  he  concluded  to  take  up  its  study.  A 
class  was  accordingly  formed  at  Le  Clear's  house, 
consisting  of  Le  Clear,  Beard,  Miss  Carrie  Le 
Clear,  Miss  Flora  Johnson,  and  the  writer,  Mr. 
Charles  Malhoubie  being  the  teacher.  The 
results  were  not  great,  though  Manesca  was 
faithfully  studied  most  of  the  winter. 

One  of  Mr.  Le  Clear's  most  frequent  visitors 
at  this  time  was  Mr.  Albert  Brisbane,  then  living 
at  Batavia.  He  made  it  a  regular  practice  of 

[  102  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


coming  there  to  dinner  when  in  Buffalo,  keeping 
a  bottle  of  claret  for  his  special  use  in  the  side- 
board. Sometimes  he  remained  and  gave  talks 
or  lectures  on  the  higher  art  of  the  great  masters, 
with  which  he  seemed  as  familiar  as  if  he  had 
lived  with  them.  These  lectures  were,  to  those 
who  had  not  seen  the  originals  (and  none  of  his 
audience  had  yet  seen  them),  very  interesting, 
as  he  spoke  with  the  full  assurance  of  a  master 
of  the  subject. 

The  writer  met  Mr.  Brisbane  and  his  family 
at  Paris  many  years  later,  when  the  old  philoso- 
pher informed  him  that  he  was  about  to  publish 
one  of  the  greatest  books,  if  not  the  greatest 
book,  ever  written.  It  must  have  died  at  birth,  at 
least  the  writer  never  saw  or  heard  of  it  since. 

After  Mr.  Le  Clear  moved  to  New  York,  as 
mentioned  elsewhere,  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  National  Academy  of  Design,  and  became 
celebrated  for  the  strength,  color,  and  excellent 
qualities  of  his  portraits.  He  painted  the  por- 
traits of  a  large  number  of  the  country's  most 
distinguished  citizens,  such  as  the  poet  Bryant, 
Professor  West,  etc.  A  magnificent  full-length 
portrait  of  General  Grant  was  the  last  important 
work  from  his  easel  that  the  writer  remembers 

[   103  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

to  have  seen.  His  somewhat  sudden  and  unex- 
pected death,  in  his  sixty-fourth  year,  took 
place  in  Rutherford,  N.  J.,  where,  after  a  second 
marriage,  he  had  lived. 

One  evening  in  the  autumn  of  1851,  a  con- 
cert was  given  at  what  was  then  called  the 
Concert  Hall  (perhaps  the  Courier  building  now 
covers  the  site  on  Main  Street) .  Here  the  writer, 
accompanied  by  a  lady,  was  patiently  waiting 
for  the  commencement  of  the  programme,  they 
the  while  in  happy  admiration  of  a  couple  of  very 
pretty  young  ladies,  a  blond  and  a  brunette, 
seated  directly  in  front  of  them.  The  arrange- 
ment of  the  hall  was  such  that  the  little  stage 
was  near  the  entrance,  so  that  every  comer  was 
plainly  seen  by  the  audience.  Just  before  the 
beginning  of  the  concert,  a  tall  and  remarkably 
handsome  man  with  abundant  flowing  chestnut 
curls,  which  evidently  had  never  known  the 
barber's  shears,  on  a  head  held  high  with  a  sort 
of  defiant  hautetir,  entered.  He  wore  a  befrogged 
sort  of  talma,  not  without  considerable  sign  of 
wear,  and  in  his  hand  he  carried  a  stout  and 
curiously  formed  stick,  more  like  a  defensive 
weapon  than  the  support  of  a  gentleman.  His 
appearance  provoked  a  whispered  remark  by 

[   104  1 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

the  writer  to  his  companion :  That  man  thinks 
himself  an  artist." 

The  following  day,  while  struggling  with  the 
details  of  ''The  Anointing  of  David,"  a  some- 
what daring  historical  subject  for  an  ignorant 
tyro  in  art  (though  ignorance  is  often  the  father 
of  success,  **but  that's  another  story  "),  a  knock 
at  the  door,  with  a  cheery  Come  in,"  brought  a 
lady  friend  and  with  her  the  identical  mystery 
of  the  concert.  ''Mr.  Sellstedt,  permit  me  to 
introduce  to  you  my  friend  and  cousin,  Mr. 
Beard,  the  artist  I  spoke  to  you  about  the  other 
day."  Imagine  the  surprise  of  the  writer,  and 
the  pleasure  he  felt  when  he  realized  that  his 
judgment  of  the  night  before  was  wholly  at 
fault.  Instead  of  a  proud  upstart,  he  found  him 
modest  and  with  every  mark  of  a  cultivated 
gentleman,  who  took  a  kind  interest  in  the 
writer's  work,  even  to  approval ;  a  sort  of  love- 
at-first-sight  and  a  friendship  that  was  unbroken 
until  his  death  four  decades  later,  when  the 
writer  had  the  mournful  satisfaction  of  bidding 
him  the  last  good-bye,  a  few  days  before  the 
sad  event. 

It  did  not  take  Mr.  Beard  long  to  become  the 
favorite  of  Buffalo's  best  society,  in  which  he 

[    105  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


finally  married.  His  choice  chanced  to  fall  upon 
the  brunette  beauty  before  mentioned,  though 
at  the  time  of  the  concert  they  had  never  met. 
This  was  Flora  Johnson,  a  granddaughter  of  the 
first  mayor  of  Buffalo,  and  cousin  of  the  late 
Miss  Louise  Wilkeson.  This  union,  favored  by 
all  and  of  happiest  augury,  was  unfortunately 
of  short  duration,  for  his  beautiful  partner  only 
lived  about  nine  months,  dying,  after  a  short 
illness,  of  a  violent  attack  of  peritonitis.  The 
writer  believes  that  it  was  at  Mr.  Le  Clear's 
house  the  acquaintance  began.  At  all  events,  as 
she  was  a  member  of  the  French  class  there,  it  is 
fair  to  suppose  that  these  occasions  were  favor- 
able to  his  love. 

William  Holbrook  Beard  was  born  in  Paines- 
ville,  Ohio,  where  his  father,  a  former  merchant- 
ship  captain,  had  settled  with  his  family,  moving 
thither  from  Buffalo,  where  he  had  lived  some 
time  in  business.  His  eldest  son,  James  H. 
Beard,  well  known  and  deservedly  popular 
among  all  who  came  in  contact  with  him,  and 
who  was  celebrated  for  his  genius  and  skill 
among  his  professional  brethren,  was  bom  in 
Buffalo  ten  years  before  his  younger  brother, 
who  doubtless  owed  much  of  his  facility  as  a 

[    106  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


painter  to  his  brother's  example  and  instruction, 
though  it  does  not  appear  that  he  was  his  regular 
pupil. 

As  James  Beard,  owing  to  his  removal  from 
Buffalo  in  early  boyhood,  does  not  figure  in  its 
early  art,  the  writer  regretfully  leaves  him  out 
as  an  actor  in  this  little  drama;  but  tradition 
says  that  when  a  boy  he  made  a  drawing  on 
paper  of  the  first  steamboat  on  Lake  Erie,  the 
redoubtable  ''Walk  in  the  Water,"  built  on  the 
banks  of  the  Niagara  River. 

It  appears  from  what  the  writer  learned  from 
random  conversation  that  William  H.  Beard 
must  have  divided  his  time  pretty  equally 
between  painting  and  roaming  alone  in  the 
woods  near  his  native  town  and  neighboring 
villages,  for  his  knowledge  of  natural  history 
was  extensive,  and  the  details  of  the  forest  had 
become  so  familiar  that  he  rarely  if  ever  had 
need  of  special  study  in  his  landscape  homes 
for  the  animal  nature  he  so  loved  to  paint. 

Mr.  Beard  moved  from  Buffalo  in  1862,  soon 
after  his  return  from  Dusseldorf  and  Rome, 
where  he  had  spent  some  time  in  study.  The 
fact  that  he  was  elected  associate  academician 
the  same  year  proves  that  his  standing  as 

[    107  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


an  artist  was  duly  acknowledged  among  his 
"co-mates." 

Of  his  genius  there  can  be  among  artists  but 
one  opinion ;  but,  ah !  there  is  always  a  but — 
this  time,  curiously  enough,  it  was  too  great 
facility.  Nearly  everything  he  did  was  done 
with  ease ;  not  needing  models,  he  seldom  used 
them ;  his  ideals  were  animals  with  human  souls, 
and,  of  course,  he  must  create  them.  This  he  did, 
and  well.  And  he  always  created.  Many  success- 
ful painters  have  to  find  names  for  their  pictures 
after  they  are  finished,  not  so  Mr.  Beard.  He 
never  put  his  hand  to  a  clean,  new  canvas  with- 
out having  in  his  mind  the  clear  idea  he  wished 
to  embody  by  his  art,  and  the  name  of  the  pic- 
ture was  usually  announced  in  advance  of  the 
first  touch. 

There  is  always,  or  nearly  always,  something 
in  the  make-up  of  a  self-educated  man,  and 
Beard  really  belonged  to  that  class,  at  least 
professionally,  even  though  he  may  have  gained 
some  practical  knowledge  of  the  art  by  the 
example  of  his  brother  when  watching  him 
paint.  But  these  opportunities  must  have  been 
very  infrequent,  as  his  brother's  work  took  him 
to  many  di^^erent  cities  in  the  Southern  States, 
[   108  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

where  he  painted  many  portraits,  and  where  his 
popularity  was  great.  Almost  every  person  who 
has  not  in  his  youth  had  the  advantage  of  a 
college  course  feels  the  want  of  it,  even  though 
in  the  main  his  career  may  have  been  a  success. 
There  are  things  which  must  be  learned  in  early^^ 
youth  or  not  at  all.  This  is  true,  to  some  extent,  ( 
in  letters  and  in  science,  but  especially  so  when 
success  depends  on  deftness  and  education  of  the 
senses.  The  hand  and  eye  of  the  successful 
painter  requires  the  same  early  training  in  his 
practice  as  do  the  ears  and  nimble  fingers  of  a 
Paderewski  in  music  to  do  full  justice  to  a  God- 
given  genius.  Here  the  writer  is  practically  and 
even  painfully  aware  that  he  touches  no  uncer- 
tain notes.  Early  and  painstaking  study  with 
persistency  is  the  only  way  to  do  full  justice  to 
innate  genius. 

Perhaps  a  lack  of  this  early  training  may 
have  stood  in  the  way  of  a  full  expression 
of  Mr.  Beard's  natural  powers,  but  none  who 
knew  him  well  could  doubt  the  greatness  that 
was  in  him,  and  that  with  equal  advantages  he 
would  have  had  few  superiors.  Confessedly 
without  rival  in  his  chosen  field,  there  were 
those,  too,  who  regretted  that,  instead  of  devot- 

[    109  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


ing  his  life  to  poetical-animal  paintings,  he  had 
not  chosen  a  humanitarian  field  for  his  talents ; 
but  to  paint  men  and  women  with  success 
requires  much  training,  such  as  Sargent,  Abbey, 
and  their  equals  have  had  in  youth.  Even  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds  lamented  his  early  lack  of 
academic  training. 

Some  of  Mr.  Beard's  works  which  exhibit  his 
peculiar  talent  are  the  property  of  the  Buffalo 
Fine  Arts  Academy,  to  which  he  also  presented 
a  large  nimiber  of  original  charcoal  drawings 
intended  for  illustrations  to  a  book  of  unique 
character,  the  literary  part  to  be  short  poems  or 
other  brief  sketches  by  the  most  distinguished 
literary  and  scientific  men  of  our  country,  many 
of  whom  had  promised  him  their  aid,  but  this 
fell  through  for  reasons  not  necessary  to  men- 
tion here. 

Probably  one  of  his  best  works,  if  not  his 
chief  one,  is  owned  by  the  Buffalo  Club,  through 
the  generosity  of  the  late  Mr.  William  G.  Fargo. 
The  whereabouts  of  one  of  his  most  cele- 
brated pictures,  Bears  on  a  Bender,"  for 
which  he  received  $6,000,  is  imknown  to  the 
writer. 

One  of  Beard's  characteristics  was  unfavorable 
[  110  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


to  the  continuance  of  the  success  he  might 
have  had  (but  that's  to  his  honor),  which  was 
an  unyielding  opposition  to  what  he  deemed 
wrong,  or  in  the  least  degree  dishonorable;  he 
seemed  without  ability  to  compromise  in  his 
judgment  between  what  he  considered  duty  and 
the  contrary.  Without  being  a  religious  bigot,  he 
must  have  inherited  traits  from  his  Scotch  fore- 
fathers akin  to  those  which  are  generally  attrib- 
uted to  the  old  Covenanters.  This  brought  de- 
tractors and  adverse  criticism  of  his  work 
among  the  younger  men  whose  art-ideas  were 
formed  by  a  few  months  study  in  the  schools  of 
Paris,  and  who  were  wholly  incapable  of  under- 
standing the  real  spirit  of  his  work.  Besides, 
fashion  had  changed ;  although  it  seems  strange 
that  there  should  be  a  fashion  in  art,  but  so  it  is. 

Mr.  Beard's  talent  in  drawing  without 
models,  by  which  he  was  able  to  make  very 
clever  pen-and-ink  sketches,  was  of  great  ad- 
vantage to  him  in  the  illustration  of  a  book  on 
"Motion  in  Art,"  pubhshed  not  long  before  his 
death.  At  his  decease  he  left  a  manuscript 
volume  of  verse,  being  a  humorous  comment  on 
the  faults  and  weaknesses  of  men  in  general, 
which  is  yet  unpublished. 

[  111  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


The  survivor  of  this  fraternal  trio,  who  is 
now  writing  this  contribution  to  the  history  of 
Buffalo's  art,  has  already  in  his  autobiography, 
"From  Forecastle  to  Academy,"  made  unneces- 
sary further  account  of  his  own  life  or  doings, 
and  his  labors  in  behalf  of  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts 
Academy  are  sufficiently  ventilated  in  their 
proper  places,  but  truth  to  history  requires  that 
he  should  add  a  line  on  a  subject  not  yet  men- 
tioned, as  it  illustrates  the  greed  for  art  knowl- 
edge among  the  ladies  of  the  city  hinted  at 
above. 

In  the  winter  of  1874,  a  ladies'  art  club  was 
formed,  composed  of  some  of  the  most  cultivated 
society  women  of  the  city.  An  invitation  was 
given  to  the  writer  to  prepare  a  course  of  art 
lectures  to  be  delivered  at  their  houses  in  which 
their  evening  meetings  were  held.  Drawing,  com- 
position, chiaroscuro,  color,  and  even  architec- 
ture, were  commented  on  in  these  somewhat 
venturesome  attempts  to  give  the  writer's 
opinions  and  what  knowledge  he  had  amassed 
in  the  study  of  art,  and  particularly  what  he  had 
learned  in  his  recent  six  months  stay  in  Europe, 
notably  in  LxDndon,  Paris,  Florence,  Venice,  and 
Rome. 

[  112  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Later  visits  to  Europe  and  a  more  careful 
study  of  the  works  of  the  so-called  great  masters 
of  the  renaissance  has  convinced  him  that  the 
epithet  is  justly  applied  to  those  in  the  first 
rank,  if  ever  men  deserved  it.  It  has  become  the 
fashion  of  some  of  our  recent  art  critics  to  dim 
the  luster  of  their  fame  and  works  in  the  glare 
of  the  lime-light  of  realism,  inimical  alike  to 
every  form  of  poetic  art. 

In  these  remarks  on  high  art  no  disparage- 
ment to  any  of  its  lower  forms  are  intended, 
neither  does  the  writer  deny  his  pleasure  and 
delight  in  clever  handling  or  of  intelligent  modes 
of  making  a  picture  attractive,  as  he  knows  too 
well  the  pleasure  of  an  harmonious  and  success- 
ful touch,  that  marks  the  master,  to  despise  a 
fine  technique ;  but  he  would  like  to  remind  the 
reader  that  all  the  excellence  of  an  academic 
learning  may  be  present  and  yet  the  work  convey 
no  greater  pleasure  to  the  mind  than  a  heavy 
and  well-constructed  sermon  by  a  dull  preacher, 
brimful  of  logic  and  without  a  grammatical  flaw. 
There  is  a  poem  in  every  phase  of  natiire  to  the 
sympathetic  soul,  and  it  is  that  which  every  suc- 
cessful landscape  should  echo  to  the  heart.  Of 
what  is  here  meant,  the  pictures  of  Tiirner, 

[  113  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

Corot,  and  perhaps,  more  than  either,  the  best 
of  Claude  Lorraine,  and  our  own  dear  George 
Inness,  are  fair  illustrations. 

Great  art  does  not  consist  of  lines,  color,  deft 
touches  of  the  brush,  or  other  skilled  means  of 
producing  picturesque  effects,  but  in  the  uplift- 
ing of  an  idea,  giving  to  crass  nature  a  halo  of 
beauty  and  spiritual  signification,  such  as  may 
be  found  in  the  works  of  Raphael,  Leonardo  da 
Vinci,  Correggio,  Titian,  Tintoretto,  and  others, 
their  peers  in  the  Italian  schools. 

These  men  knew  how  to  combine  the  greatest 
skill  with  poetic  or  religious  aspirations,  promi- 
nently exemplified  in  the  works  of  the  greatest 
of  them  all  in  breadth  of  genius  and  lofty 
thought,  whether  as  architect,  sculptor,  or 
painter;  who  out  of  the  real  created  the  sub- 
lime, leaving  St.  Peter's  Cathedral  his  Moses, 
and  on  the  walls  and  ceiling  of  the  Sistine 
Chapel  everlasting  proof  of  greatness. 

While,  in  the  winter  of  1875,  the  writer  was 
absorbing  these  ideas  among  the  art-treasures 
of  Europe,  he  had  left  his  studio  to  the  care  and 
use  of  a  younger  artist  friend  in  whom  he  had 
taken  great  interest,  believing  him  to  be  pos- 
sessed of  more  than  ordinary  talents.  This  was 
[  114  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

Hamilton  Hamilton,  whose  subsequent  career  in 
New  York,  where  he  later  established  himself, 
justified  this  belief,  as  he  soon  after  became  the 
fourth  member  of  the  National  Academy  of 
Design  that  Buffalo  had  furnished.  Mr.  Hamil- 
ton is  the  son  of  an  English  farmer  who  came  to 
America  and  settled  with  his  family  on  a  farm  in 
Livingston  County,  near  Portage,  whose  son  and 
daughter  both  seem  to  have  been  artistically 
gifted,  for  his  sister  is,  or  was  when  the  writer 
made  her  acquaintance,  accomplished  in  music. 
Her  brother,  younger  than  she,  began  his  art 
studies  before  they  left  England,  in  Oxford,  near 
which  city  they  were  born.  While  a  boy  of  fif- 
teen, he  copied  some  pictures  by  Turner  in  the 
University's  museum.  There  his  penchant  was, 
at  the  first,  for  landscape;  and  here  he  has 
shown  much  ability  and  great  deftness  in  the 
use  of  the  brush  with  excellent  knowledge  of 
composition  and  truth  to  nature.  His  work  in 
New  York,  however,  has  been  varied.  Even  por- 
traits strong  in  character  have  come  fromi  his 
easel,  but  a  larger  part  of  his  work  there  has 
been  of  mixed  character,  such  as  pastoral  homes 
in  spring  with  blossoming  fruit  trees,  and  even 
in-door  compositions  of  domestic  character.  His 

[    115  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


largest  canvas,  "The  Valley  of  Fountains," 
painted  in  the  writer's  studio  from  studies  made 
in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  where  he  and  Mr.  J. 
Harrison  Mills  spent  some  time  in  the  earlier 
seventies,  he  presented  to  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts 
Academy.  Mr.  Hamilton  is  a  first-class  etcher 
also.  In  this  department  of  art  his  delicate  and 
certain  touch  in  drawing  has  stood  him  in  stead. 
The  writer  is  the  happy  possessor  of  two  of  his 
largest  upright  landscape  etchings,  which  he 
thinks  as  good  as  anything  of  that  nature  with 
which  he  is  familiar.  He  has  not  met  Mr.  Hamil- 
ton for  many  years.  When  he  lived  in  Buffalo 
he  was  noted  for  his  gentle  ways  and  simple 
courtesy,  being  generally  abstracted ;  and  while 
at  work  he  was  wholly  absorbed  and  careless  of 
the  present  as  well  as  the  future,  but  quick  of 
apprehension,  appreciative,  and  grateful  for 
any  little  service  rendered. 

Another  of  Biiffalo's  artists  who  should  be 
mentioned  among  the  younger  men  who  studied 
art  as  a  profession  was  the  son  of  the  late  Rt. 
Rev.  Bishop  Coxe,  then  residing  in  the  city.  Mr. 
Reginald  C.  Coxe  had  given  up  other  studies  for 
painting,  choosing  for  his  field  marine  subjects, 
such  as  smaller  crafts,  fishing  boats,  etc.  A 

[   116  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


certain  intelligent  abandon  also  in  dealing  with 
the  angry  breakers  of  the  rocky  shores  of  Glou- 
cester, Massachusetts,  which  he  often  studied, 
gave  promise  of  success  as  a  marine  painter; 
but  after  his  removal  from  Btiffalo,  the  writer 
has  lost  track  of  him,  which  renders  him  uncer- 
tain in  regard  to  his  present  work.  For  a  while 
he  was  a  pupil  of  Hamilton,  from  whom  he 
learned  much  in  etching,  an  art  in  which  he 
acquired  considerable  advance.  One  of  his 
paintings,  owned  by  the  Saturn  Club,  ''The  Lost 
Chord,"  proves  him  possessed  of  poetic  feeling. 

After  his  return  from  New  York,  where  he 
had  spent  some  years,  he  took  a  deep  interest  in 
the  Society  of  Artists,  of  which  he  once  was  a 
very  active  member.  While  in  New  York,  Mr. 
Coxe  exhibited  a  large  canvas,  an  uncommon 
view  of  Niagara  Falls,  which  was,  perhaps,  his 
most  successful  effort. 

Among  those  who  have  devoted  their  life  to 
art  in  Buffalo,  the  writer  can  point  to  none  more 
in  earnest,  although  in  a  financial  point  of  view 
without  measurable  success,  or  even  artistic 
reputation,  than  Henry  Lee  Brent.  A  constant 
and  faithful  student  of  out-door  Nature  and 
earnestly  endeavoring  to  fix  her  beauties  on 

[    117  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


canvas,  he  has  not  succeeded  in  interesting  art- 
lovers  in  his  work.  This  maybe  owing  largely 
to  his  manner  of  using  pigments ;  trying  to  be 
absolutely  truthful,  he  succeeds  only  in  part, 
seldom  making  his  work  attractive.  He  has 
painted  many  landscapes  from  the  scenes  around 
the  Genesee  Valley,  being  to  all  appearance  a 
sincere  admirer  of  its  grandeur,  without  making 
others  see  in  any  degree,  as  he  himself  probably 
saw,  their  beauties.  Nor  does  this  deficiency 
appear  to  be  the  effect  of  ignorance,  for  he  is  an 
intelligent  and  cultivated  gentleman;  there 
may  be  some  defect  in  vision,  for  once  in  a  while 
he  shows  that  he  has  a  good  knowledge  of  the 
requirements  of  composition  and  values  in 
colors.  The  writer  owns  a  small  landscape  by 
this  artist,  bought  for  a  modest  sum,  but  which 
he  values  far  beyond  its  purchase  price. 

Mr.  Brent  is  now  an  old  man,  delicate  in 
sentiment,  modest,  patient — a  true  Christian  in 
deed  and  character,  with  just  the  degree  of  pride 
which  makes  it  difficult  for  friends  to  render  him 
the  assistance  he  may  sometimes  need.  He  lives 
alone,  apparently  contented  in  his  work.  His 
father  having  been  attache  to  the  American 
ministry  at  Madrid  in  Spain,  was  married  there 

[   118  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


to  a  lady  of  the  country;  and  afterwards  was 
appointed  consul  at  Lisbon,  where  his  son  was 
born.  Mr.  Brent  speaks  the  best  of  Spanish,  is 
fluent  in  French,  and  has  a  superior  general 
education.  He  was  possessed  of  some  patrimony 
when  he  came  to  our  city  some  time  in  the 
seventies,  but,  if  it  has  not  altogether  disap- 
peared, it  is  greatly  lessened  at  this  time.* 

Mr.  J.  Harrison  Mills  was  born  at  Bowmans- 
ville  near  Buffalo.  He  has  lately  returned  to  the 
city  and  is  in  active  occupation,  being  a  man  of 
many  parts,  painter,  sculptor,  poet,  soldier,  who 
in  his  younger  years,  while  studying  the  gran- 
deur of  the  Rocky  Mountain  scenery,  found 
occupation,  or  amusement,  in  dispensing  justice 
to  his  Western  fellow  citizens. 

Of  the  contributors  to  Buffalo's  art  furnished 
by  the  city  of  Lockport,  Mr.  Raphael  Beck  also 
deserves  honorable  mention.  Mr.  Beck's  early 
works  had  much  tendency  to  the  ideal.  It  was 
he,  too,  whose  nimble  fancy  provided  the  Pan- 
American  with  its  symbol  in  artistically  uniting 
the  continents  by  fanciful  human  figures.  He  has 
later  turned  his  attention  to  portraits. 


*  Since  this  was  written  he  has  peacefully  joined  the  great  majority. 
Requiescat  in  pace. 

[    119  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


In  his  youth,  the  late  Rev.  George  L.  Chase, 
also  of  Lockport,  seemed  to  have  had  ideas  of 
devoting  himself  to  art,  taking  a  studio  in  our 
city,  though  he  later  studied  divinity  and  took 
orders.  His  early  death  was  greatly  lamented. 
Mr.  Chase's  love  of  art  seems  to  have  de- 
scended to  his  daughter,  Ellen  Wheeler  Chase, 
who  studied  in  the  Buffalo  Academy's  school, 
and  by  taking  a  prize  there  gained  a  scholar- 
ship in  the  Art  Students'  League  of  New  York. 
Afterwards  she  studied  with  Tarbell  in  Boston 
and  her  excellent  work  in  portraits  gives  prom- 
ise of  a  distinguished  future. 

Another  artist  whose  career  dates  from  this 
period  is  Mr.  Frank  C.  Penfold.  Born  in  Lock- 
port,  he  probably  received  early  instructions  in 
art  from  his  father,  who  was  a  successful  portrait- 
painter,  but  he  studied  in  Paris,  where  he  soon 
became  so  prominent  that  one  of  his  pictures  in 
the  salon  was  purchased  by  the  French  Govern- 
ment to  be  sent,  as  is  their  custom,  to  become 
permanent  property  of  some  remote  public 
gallery.  Mr.  Penfold  generally  spends  his  time 
in  Pont  Aven,  and  though  he  has  almost 
expatriated  himself,  still  continues  to  be  a 
friend   of  the   Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy, 

[   120  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


where  one  of  his  most  important  works  has 
found  a  home. 

Mr.  Albert  Bigelow  has  been  mentioned 
before  as  a  sweet  singer  in  early  home  concerts 
of  the  city.  He  studied  for  the  ministry  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  became  ordained  and  for 
many  years  was  a  pastor  of  that  denomination 
in  Silver  Creek,  N.  Y.  Increasing  deafness  caused 
him  to  relinquish  his  pastorate  and  study  the  art 
of  painting.  This  he  did  under  the  instruction  of 
Mr.  Carpenter  of  New  York  and  became  a  fairly 
successful  portrait  painter,  leaving  many  accept- 
able specimens  of  his  work  here  and  elsewhere. 
Some  are  now  the  property  of  the  Buffalo  His- 
torical Society.  Mr.  Bigelow  was  a  born  Buffalo- 
nian,  and  one  of  the  most  beautiful  characters, 
morally,  intellectually,  and  socially,  that  ever 
^^^^.^.-^ais"  native  to  the  soil. 

Thus  far,  Mr.  Charles  Caryl  Coleman  is  the 
best  and  most  universally  known  of  native  Buf- 
falonians  who  adopted  art  as  a  profession.  It  has 
already  been  said  that  in  boyhood  he  took  lessons 
in  painting  from  Mr.  Andrews.  These  he  later 
supplemented  in  Mr.  W.  H.  Beard's  studio, 
where  for  a  short  time  he  was  a  pupil.  His  subse- 
quent studies  were  in  Paris  and  Rome,  where  he 

[   121  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


eventually  settled  as  a  full-fledged  artist,  being  a 
close  friend  and  companion  of  Elihu  Vedder  and 
other  painters  of  high  order.  When  the  war  for 
the  Union  broke  out,  his  patriotism  brought  him 
back,  as  it  did  other  artists,  to  take  his  part  in 
the  defense  of  the  Union.  He  became  attached 
to  a  regiment  near  Charleston  in  the  earlier  part 
of  the  war,  and  there  received,  while  on  duty,  a 
wound  which  incapacitated  him  from  further 
service,  and  for  which  he  still  has  a  lieutenant's 
pension.  He  now  makes  his  home  on  the  Island 
of  Capri  in  a  beautiful  villa  of  his  own,  and  from 
which  he  sends  the  works  from  his  easel — works 
of  great  beauty — which  are  highly  appreciated 
by  art  lovers,  not  only  in  the  United  States  but 
in  England  and  other  European  countries.  One 
of  his  most  charming  pictures,  a  moonlight  view 
of  the  village  or  town  of  Capri,  bought  by  the 
Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy,  loses  nothing  in 
beauty  and  dignity  by  being  hung  on  the  walls 
of  the  Albright  Gallery  among  its  choicest  treas- 
ures. Another  of  his  important  works  is  the 
property  of  the  Buffalo  Club.  Charles  C.  Cole- 
man is  yet  a  young  man  at  seventy,  and,  as  he 
is  in  full  vigor,  much  may  yet  be  expected 
from  his  hand. 

[   122  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


In  this  connection,  another  artist  of  acknowl- 
edged merit,  at  present  making  his  home  near 
his  friend  Mr.  Coleman,  in  that  charmed  isle, 
who  for  a  few  years  had  his  studio  here,  is  Mr. 
William  Graham,  who  was  born  in  New  York 
City,  and  in  his  boyhood  was  one  of  those  who 
in  1849  sought  fortune  in  California,  making 
the  long  voyage  to  San  Francisco  in  company 
with  many  others  in  a  sailing  vessel.  There  he 
seems,  after  the  usual  vicissitudes  of  adverse 
luck,  to  have  learned  watch-making  and  to 
make  jewelry,  but  even  this  was  not  destined 
to  be  his  life-work.  He  studied  art,  turning  his 
attention  to  the  scenery  near  or  adjacent  to 
San  Francisco.  Later,  he  sought  for  motifs  in 
Europe,  Italy  and  France  by  preference.  Later 
still,  he  found  material  for  his  brush  in  Egypt, 
where  in  Cairo  and  its  neighborhood  he  made 
most  excellent  and  interesting  studies.  He  final- 
ly settled  in  Venice,  where  he  married  a  beauti- 
ful lady  belonging  to  a  decayed  noble  family. 
While  living  there  he  became  a  friend  of 
Whistler,  who,  with  all  his  failings  and  vagaries, 
seems  to  have  been  willing  to  recognize  the  high 
value  of  his  art ;  though,  as  to  that,  there  never 
was  but  one  opinion  among  well-trained  artists 

[   123  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


as  to  Mr.  Graham's  standing;  his  fidelity  to 
Nature  in  her  various  phases  is  remarkable.  On 
the  death  of  his  wife,  he  tried  to  find  solace  by 
returning  to  his  native  land,  but  his  long  resi- 
dence in  Italy  and  the  friends  there  caused  him 
to  return  to  make  his  home,  as  before  stated, 
near  his  friends  in  Isola  da  Capri.  He  has 
lately  returned  to  Buffalo  to  make  this  city 
his  future  home. 

Among  those  who  were  not  artists  by  pro- 
fession, but  whose  interest  in  art  was  pro- 
nounced, Mr.  William  C.  Cornwell  deserves 
particular  notice  in  connection  with  Buffalo's 
development  in  the  fine  arts.  By  profession  Mr. 
Cornwell  is  a  banker,  and  even  while  devoting 
much,  if  not  all,  of  his  spare  time  to  amateur 
painting,  was  president  of  one  of  the  city's 
banks.  Genial,  liberally  endowed  by  nature  and 
with  a  cultured  mind,  he  was  a  valuable  friend 
to  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy,  where  as  a 
member  of  its  executive  board  he  was  one  of 
the  most  active,  and  whose  advice  in  matters  of 
art  was  always  respectfully  received  and  gener- 
ally acted  upon.  As  chairman  of  its  Art  School 
he  was  ever  alive  to  its  interests.  Although  an 
amateur,  he  often  devoted  himself  to  public 
[   124  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


decorative  works  on  walls,  actually  doing  with 
his  own  hands  the  work  belonging  to  the  skilled 
wall  decorators.  After  the  decease  of  his 
charming  and  beautiful  wife,  Mr.  Cornwell 
moved  from  Buffalo,  to  the  regret  both  of 
friends  and  the  lovers  of  art. 

In  this  connection  it  is  a  pleasure  to  note 
the  deep  interest  taken  by  Mr.  Carleton  Sprague 
and  his  lovely  wife  in  the  higher  forms  of  art. 
The  poetic  trend  of  Mr.  Sprague's  mind  is 
readily  in  touch  with  the  best  in  art  and  his 
services  in  its  behalf  are  of  the  utmost  value. 

Much  of  the  earlier  success  of  the  Buffalo 
Fine  Arts  Academy  was  due  to  the  newspaper 
press  of  the  city.  Not  only  to  the  Courier, 
through  Mr.  Joseph  Warren's  friendly  personal 
assistance,  printing  the  Gallery  catalogues  for 
six  cents  per  copy  (sold  at  the  desk  of  the  exhi- 
bition rooms  for  twenty-five  cents) ,  which  was  a 
considerable  source  of  its  much-needed  income, 
and  devoting  whole  sides  of  the  paper  to  the 
poems  and  long  addresses,  comments,  eulogies 
of  pictures,  often  written  by  the  superintend- 
ent, to  help  along  and  induce  visitors  to  drop 
their  twenty-five  cents  into  the  Gallery  coffers 
—  not  alone  to  the  Courier  but  to  all  the  other 

[   125  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

daily  papers,  the  most  grateful  acknowledg- 
ment is  due  for  their  boundless  liberality  to 
the  infant  enterprise.  Besides,  for  the  regular 
advertisements  only  half  price  was  charged, 
and  all  sorts  of  free  announcements  given  that 
were  needed  to  call  attention  to  the  exhibitions. 

Elsewhere,  attention  has  been  called  to  Mr. 
William  G.  Fargo 's  liberality  in  express  charges, 
not  to  mention  the  prompt  assistance  from  his 
own  pocket  when  asked  for  contributions. 
Sometimes  the  expenses  in  keeping  up  the  vari- 
ous exhibitions  were  met  from  treasurer  John 
Alien,  Jr.'s,  own  bank  account.  The  ever-ready 
Captain  Dorr  was  another  of  those  to  whom  the 
management  was  wont  to  turn  when  in  distress ; 
besides,  the  officers  of  the  Academy  who  had 
dollars  to  spare  were  generally  ready  to  meet 
exigencies.  The  superintendent's  wealth  lay 
only  in  the  time  which  he  was  ever  willing  to 
give.  These  reminiscences  are  perhaps  unneces- 
sary, since  they  have  already,  either  in  a  direct 
way  or  by  inference,  appeared  in  the  earlier 
pages  of  this  work;  but  the  writer,  once  an 
actor  in  the  story,  holds  it  but  simple  justice 
thus  to  group  and  entwine  them  with  the  same 
memorial  wreath. 

[   126  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

To  this  should  be  added  the  Hberal  good- 
nature of  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  every 
now  and  then  denuded  their  walls  of  choice 
pictures,  or  loaned  other  works  of  art,  when 
needed  as  attractions.  The  writer  believes  that 
the  names  of  Mrs.  S.  V.  R.  Watson,  Mrs.  James 
Brayley,  Mrs.  Bronson  C.  Rumsey,  and  Henry 
A.  Richmond,  Edmund  Hayes,  W.  H.  Grat- 
wick,  and  Ralph  H.  Plumb  are  entitled  to  be 
here  recorded. 

The  historian  of  Buffalo  art  owes  much  to 
Mrs.  L.  G.  Sellstedt's  scrap-book,  in  which  is 
saved  much  that  concerns  the  history,  not  only 
of  its  fine  arts  but  its  material,  mental,  and 
social  development,  in  which  during  seven  dec- 
ades she  was  an  active  and  important  element. 

Among  those  who  never  made  Buffalo  their 
home  but  in  a  decided  degree  added  to  its 
artistic  spirit,  and  whose  work  enhanced  the 
spirit  to  acquire  excellence  in  the  technique 
among  resident  painters,  it  is  but  just  to  men- 
tion Chester  Harding,  that  old  master,  one  of 
the  trio  who  in  the  forties  divided  the  renown 
in  portrait-painting  throughout  the  United 
States  with  Henry  Inman  and  William  Page. 
Of  the  two  latter,  the  history  of  American  Art 

[    127  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


is  sufficiently  complete,  since  they  belonged  to 
New  York,  then,  as  now,  the  real  art  center  of 
the  country;  but  Mr.  Harding,  though  in  most 
things  their  equal,  chose  in  the  latter  part  of  his 
life  to  live  and  die  in  what  was  then  the  Far 
West,  bordering  on  the  Mississippi  and  Mis- 
souri rivers,  where  his  children  and  grand- 
children have  made  their  homes.  It  was  the 
writer's  privilege  to  make  the  acquaintance  of 
the  grand  old  gentlemen  while  he  was  visiting 
and  painting  in  the  home  of  their  common 
friend,  William  G.  Fargo. 

He  sometimes  visited  the  writer's  studio, 
and  the  latter  remembers  receiving  valuable 
hints  in  technique,  besides  being  otherwise 
benefited  by  his  old  friend's  encouraging  and 
critical  remarks. 

Although  foreign  from  the  purpose  of  this 
work,  the  writer  may  be  excused  for  a  few  words 
anent  the  early  history  of  this  excellent  old  artist. 

Chester  Harding  was  born  in  New  England 
and  spent  his  early  life  on  a  farm  until  he  was 
twenty-four  years  of  age,  when  he  began  the 
study  of  art,  and  it  appears  that  he  in  an  un- 
usually short  time  became  known  as  an  excel- 
lent portrait-painter.  He  became  a  friend  of 

[    128  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

Daniel  Webster,  whose  portrait  he  painted 
more  than  once,  and  one  of  which  now  remains 
to  posterity  as  the  ideal  Webster,  as  Stuart's 
does  of  Washington. 

Later,  he  was  one  of  the  competitors  with 
Page  and  Inman  for  the  full-length  portrait  of 
the  Governor  of  New  York  for  the  City  Hall; 
the  committee,  having  been  unable  to  agree  on 
the  artist,  left  the  matter  a  competitive  work 
between  the  three  above  mentioned.  The  three 
portraits  were  painted,  and  the  final  decision 
was  the  acceptance  of  Inman 's,  which  now 
adorns  the  walls  of  the  governor's  room  there. 
Unless  the  writer's  memory  is  at  fault,  it  was 
Governor  Seward  who  had  been  the  patient 
victim  of  the  three  artists. 

Mr.  Harding  was  a  great  lover  of  sport. 
Gigantic  of  size  and  herculean  in  strength, 
with  the  proportions  of  an  Apollo,  he  naturally 
loved  athletics  and  sport  of  all  kinds.  The 
writer  recalls  a  story  of  his  youth  which  he 
related  in  his  studio. 

He  had  been  present  at  a  fair  somewhere  on 
the  Mississippi  River,  where  a  barbecue  was 
also  in  progress.  A  part  of  the  sport  consisted 
in  wrestling  matches,  and  one  man  had  con- 

[    129  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


quered  all  antagonists.  Flushed  with  his  vic- 
tory, he  stood  inviting  any  one  to  try  again, 
when  the  young  artist-spectator  made  a  whis- 
pered remark  that  though  he  was  no  wrestler 
he  thought  he  could  put  him  down.  Immedi- 
ately his  interlocutor  raised  his  voice  above  the 
din  with:  "Here  is  a  man  that  thinks  he  can 
down  you."  ''Come  on,  come  on,"  came  from 
all;  and,  though  he  modestly  tried  to  excuse 
himself,  he  found  that  he  must  accept  the  chal- 
lenge. Simply  divesting  himself  of  his  coat  he 
advanced  and  met  the  wrestler.  "I  did  not 
know  a  thing  about  wrestling,"  he  said,  in 
speaking  of  the  circumstance,  "but  I  thought  I 
could  rely  on  my  strength.  We  clinched,  and  I 
got  my  arm  around  him ;  when  I  just  bent  him 
in  two  and  laid  him  down  at  my  feet." 

Mr.  Henry  Harding,  his  brother,  also  used 
to  make  occasional  professional  visits  to  our 
city  from  time  to  time  in  its  earlier  days,  paint- 
ing portraits  of  some  of  its  residents,  which, 
though  meritorious,  did  not  equal  those  of  his 
more  gifted  brother;  but  neither  his  presence 
or  work,  nor  those  of  Mr.  Mason,  formerly 
alluded  to  as  Mr.  Le  Clear's  guest,  seemed  to 
have  had  any  marked  effect  on  the  art  spirit 

[   130  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


of  the  city,  as  they  both  lacked  that  personal 
influence  that  the  resident  artist  would  natur- 
ally have.  In  these  remembrances,  the  shade  of 
George  B.  Butler,  one  of  the  brightest  and  best 
of  American  artists,  arises  to  recall  the  beauti- 
ful portrait  he  came  here  to  paint  of  Sherman 
S.  Rogers  and  his  noble  wife.  Mr.  Butler  had 
served  as  captain  of  volunteers,  and  lost  his 
right  arm  at  Gettysburg,  but  painted  glorious 
pictures  with  his  left  hand,  using  long-handled 
brushes  to  reach  his  palette  on  the  floor. 

In  this  connection,  a  pleasant  memory  to 
the  writer  is  the  arrival  of  Mr.  G.  P.  A.  Healy, 
the  distinguished  portrait-painter,  in  1862,  to 
paint  ex-President  Fillmore's  portrait  for  the 
White  House.  To  accommodate  his  sitter,  the 
picture,  though  a  full-length,  was  painted  in 
the  private  office  of  the  law  firm  of  Messrs. 
Fillmore,  Hall  &  Haven.  While  Mr.  Healy  was 
Mr.  Fillmore's  guest  during  the  time  occupied 
in  the  work,  he  used  to  spend  his  evenings  in 
the  writer's  family,  finding  more  congenial 
company,  and  thereby  a  pleasant  intimacy  was 
formed.  Mr.  Healy  had  painted  many  men  and 
women  in  high  society,  including  even  royalty, 
and  was  a  favorite  in  Parisian  salons.  Of  courtly 

[    131  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


manners,  and  an  agreeable  raconteur  of  amusing 
anecdotes,  he  was  ever  a  welcome  visitor.  The 
last  time  that  the  writer  saw  him  was  in  his 
home  in  Paris,  in  1875,  when  he  had  the  pleas- 
ure of  dining  with  his  numerous  and  interesting 
family. 

A  pleasant  article  in  one  of  the  Buffalo  Fine 
Arts  Academy's  publications  credits  the  writer 
with  the  endowment  of  a  genius  for  working 
without  compensation.  Lest  this  should  reflect 
upon  his  vanity  or  common  sense,  a  few  details 
concerning  his  work  in  behalf  of  the  institution 
may  be  permitted  by  way  of  explanation  of 
what  in  our  day  of  material  activity  may  be 
deemed  a  phenomenon.  He  might  well,  how- 
ever, pass  by  what  is  more  or  less  a  personal 
matter,  did  it  not  belong  to  the  main  subject 
of  the  Academy's  history.  That  the  writer  did 
not  in  his  active  life  set  a  proper  value  on 
money,  he  records  to  his  discredit,  as  he  looks 
upon  wealth  as  a  means  of  gratifying  desires 
for  the  purest  enjoyment  a  man  can  have — 
that  of  making  others  happy. 

Of  his  early  life  nothing  need  be  said  here, 
except  that  it  included  a  fair  education  till  the 
age  of  thirteen,  and  a  life  on  the  ocean  as  a 

[   132  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

sailor  until  twenty-three,  nearly  four  years  on  the 
Great  Lakes,  studying  art  during  winter,  and 
a  professional  artist  life,  mainly  as  portrait- 
painter,  up  to  the  present  writing.  His  connection 
with  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy  is  already 
told,  and  the  matter  might  well  be  left  with- 
out further  details  were  it  not  that  a  few 
words  are  necessary  to  show  some  other  diffi- 
culties encountered  in  keeping  things  going 
during  the  quarter  of  a  century  he  acted  as  a 
sort  of  factotum  of  the  institution. 

When  the  exhibitions  first  commenced  they 
were  bi-monthly.  New  pictures  must  be  pro- 
cured and  others  returned.  This  made  much 
work  and  not  a  little  worry.  It  included  visits 
to  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  other  art 
centers;  packing  and  unpacking  and  getting 
ready  for  the  day  appointed  for  opening.  There 
was  no  regular  male  assistant ;  often  the  young 
lady  ticket-attendant  and  the  superintendent 
worked  beyond  midnight  to  pack  and  unpack 
boxes  of  paintings.  This  was  when  the  exhibi- 
tions were  held  in  the  Arcade  building. 

After  moving  to  the  quarters  provided  with 
the  Young  Men's  Association,  another  difficulty 
arose.  The  rooms  were  in  the  third  story,  the 

[    133  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


stairs  were  not  strong,  and  boxes  must  be 
hoisted  from  the  area  of  the  first  story  by  a 
wooden  crane  and  tackle,  which  was  put  up  in 
the  gallery  above  at  the  instance  of  Captain 
Dorr  and  the  writer,  who  always  superintended 
the  work  and  generally  assisted  in  pulling  the 
rope  with  such  help  as  he  could  pick  up  in  the 
street  from  cartmen  and  others. 


[  134  ] 


VI 

When  the  writer,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr. 
James  N.  Johnston,  a  fervent  friend  of  art 
poesy  and  general  culture,  took  on  himself  the 
task  of  putting  his  recollections  and  experiences 
into  connected  form,  it  was  his  idea  to  limit  the 
scope  of  the  subject  to  the  early  history  of 
Buffalo's  art,  to  keep  alive  memories  fast 
dying,  or  awaken  those  already  as  dead  as  the 
actors  they  commemorated,  leaving  a  future 
historian  to  continue  the  tale;  but  as  the  sub- 
ject grew  in  interest  the  plan  was  changed,  and 
he  concluded  to  devote  a  few  more  days  of 
rapidly  declining  years  to  a  general  review  of 
the  whole  field  of  the  city's  art  culture,  as  far 
as  it  came  within  his  ken. 

Mr.  Willis  O.  Chapin  had  already  antici- 
pated him  with  regard  to  the  essential  points 
of  the  early  history  of  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts 
Academy  in  his  history,  to  which  the  writer  is 
much  indebted;  and  while  he  intends  to  take 
up  the  story  where  Mr.  Chapin  ended,  he  will 
leave  statistics  and  purely  barren  details  where 
they  properly  belong,  which  may  be  found  on 
record  in  their  proper  place,  keeping  in  view 

[    135  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

mainly  those  things  which  are  of  more  interest 
to  the  pubHc,  and  which  have,  and  have  had, 
their  influence  in  modeHng  the  tastes  and  art 
culture  of  the  community. 

The  election  of  the  late  Mr.  Ralph  H.  Plumb 
to  the  office  of  president  in  1889  brought  new 
blood  into  the  Academy.  Being  himself  a  sin- 
cere lover  of  art  and  possessor  of  many  choice 
specimens,  especially  by  American  artists  of 
note,  he  became  deeply  interested  in  the  Buffalo 
Fine  Arts  Academy,  nor  was  he  niggard  in  the 
use  of  his  influence  in  its  behalf  when  he 
deemed  it  of  advantage  to  the  institution. 
Among  the  artists  of  New  York,  on  visits  to 
their  studios,  he  was  ever  welcome,  and  in  his 
frequent  business  trips  to  that  metropolis  he 
seldom  omitted  an  opportunity  to  visit  both 
private  and  public  galleries  in  the  interests  of 
Buffalo's  art.  In  this  self -education  he  learned 
much  and  became  a  fair  judge  of  paintings  and 
especially  of  their  commercial  value;  through 
his  influence,  some  of  the  choicest  treasures  the 
Academy  possesses  were  secured.  This  the  im- 
proved financial  condition  warranted.  No  longer 
was  it  necessary  to  fill  the  walls  of  the  galleries 
with  questionable  paintings. 

[    136  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


A  mistaken  idea  of  the  original  purpose  of 
the  projectors  of  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Acad- 
emy had  obtained,  to  a  large  extent,  that  its 
galleries  were  to  be  the  exhibition  rooms  for 
students  and  struggling  artists  for  their  mate- 
rial benefit.  This  was  certainly  not  the  idea 
prominent  in  the  minds  of  the  early  advocates 
of  an  institution  with  a  permanent  gallery,  but 
to  secure  for  exhibition  the  best  works  of  art 
obtainable  as  models  for  artistic  study  and 
means  for  a  higher  education  of  the  public  in 
matters  of  art,  as  well  as  a  general  gratification 
of  the  lovers  of  the  beautiful  who  could  not 
afford  to  possess  valuable  pictures.  The  plan 
was  to  model  the  institution  after  the  National 
Academy  of  Design  in  New  York,  with  schools, 
membership,  etc.  The  last-mentioned  idea  was 
abandoned  for  want  of  sufficient  material,  and 
the  necessity  of  interesting  men  of  means  and 
influence.  As  there  was  a  common  complaint 
over  the  inferiority  of  American  art  when  com- 
pared with  that  of  Europe,  to  give  encourage- 
ment to  native  artists  the  only  natural  remedy 
seemed  to  lie  in  finding  purchasers  for  their 
best  works  which  public  exhibitions  might 
tend  to  promote;  and  even  if  money  was  slow 

[   137  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


in  coming,  the  exposition  of  the  fruits  of  their 
genius  would  bring  their  names  before  the 
pubHc  and  add  to  their  reputation. 

Although  the  idea  of  preferring  American 
art  was  openly  approved  by  many,  no  one 
thought  of  excluding  good  examples  of  foreign 
works,  though  the  hopes  of  possessing  valu- 
able chefs-d'oeuvre,  such  as  may  now  be  found 
on  the  walls  of  the  galleries,  were  very  faint 
indeed.  The  education  in  art  differs  not  in  its 
inception  from  that  of  letters  or  science;  all 
must  have  their  beginning  in  small  things;  as 
it  may  take  decades  to  prepare  the  mind  for  a 
just  appreciation  of  an  Emerson,  a  Browning, 
or  a  La  Place,  and  the  approach  must  be  by 
long  and  painful  steps,  so  also  there  is  no 
short-cut  to  a  true  understanding  of  a  Corot,  a 
Whistler,  or  a  Turner.  There  is  now  no  question 
of  Buffalo's  gradual  advance  in  art  culture, 
though  its  growth  has  been  slow,  and  if  the 
public  which  visits  the  beautiful  galleries  of 
Europe  has  turned  up  its  nose  at  finding  walls 
covered  with  some  of  the  earlier  pictures  of  the 
Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy,  those  very  paint- 
ings may,  perhaps,  have  been  the  ones  that 
gave  the  first  lessons  which  prepared  their 
[   138  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

minds  for  a  true  enjoyment  of  its  present  noble 
collection. 

What  might  be  termed  a  business  era  seemed  to 
dawn  on  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy  at  Mr. 
Plumb's  election  to  the  presidency;  it  was  no 
longer  a  pauper,  as  the  accompanying  statement 
copied  from  Mr.  Chapin's  book,  January,  1899, 
clearly  shows.  There  was  no  longer  a  question 
of  a  requiem;  instead,  a  pasan  of  joy  ascended 
from  those  who  had  been  watching  with  anxious 
care  for  the  final  issue.  And  mysterious  hints 
began  to  be  whispered  of  good  things  to  come. 
GIFTS  AND  BEQUESTS 

THE  PERMANENT  FUNDS 

Original  subscriptions  to  Endowment  Fund,  $9,760.95 

Sherman  S.  Jewett,  June  7,  1872,  10,000.00 

(Gift)  Set  apart  as  Picture  Fund,  April  8,  1872. 
Thomas  C.  Reilly,  March  24,  1883,  $2,000.00 
(Bequest)  July  2,  1885,    ....  1,000.00 
November  2,  1886,  .   .  500.00 
November  11,  1886,    .  500.00 

  4,000.00 

Caroline  C.  Fillmore,  January  21, 

1885,  1,000.00 

(Bequest,  $2,000)  February  15, 

1886   480.00 

(Bequest,  $2,000)  January  5,  1888,  200.00 

  1,680.00 

Francis  W.  Tracy,  April  20,  1889,  19,000.00 

(Bequest  of  $20,000  as  Picture 
Fund),  reduced  legacy  by  tax 
of  $1,000,  the  amount  was  re- 
stored from  savings  in  1897,  .  1,000.00 

  20,000.00 

[    139  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


THE  PERMANENT  FUNDS  —  CON. 

(Bequest)   Rev.   Frederick  Frothingham, 
March  8,  1892,  

(Bequest)  Jonathan  Scoville,  April  11,  1892, 

(Bequest)  John  Browning,  April 

16,  1894   $360.28 

(Bequest)  John  Browning,  April 

23»  1894,   53.45 


(Bequest)  Dr.  Frederick  H.  James,  July  19, 
1898,  

SPECIAL 

Caroline  C.  Fillmore,  January  21, 

1885,  $2,000.00 

Bequest   $2,000,    amount  Feb- 
ruary 15,  1886,   960.00 

Received,  including  interest,  Jan- 
uary 15,  1888,   400.00 

  3,360.00 

Given  for  the  purchase  or  erection  of  a 
building  more  secure  from  fire  than  the 
one  now  occupied. 
(Gift)  Hon.  James  M.  Smith,  March  27,  1894, 
to  be  expended  for  changes  and  repairs  in 
the  Gallery  and  the  remainder  invested 


in  casts,   5,000.00 

From  Academy  Notes,  Vol.  I,  June,  1905-May,  1906, 
we  learn,  "  The  Academy  now  has  the  following  funds 
for  the  purchase  of  works  of  art,  viz: 

Sherman  S.  Jewett  Fund,  $10,000.00 

Albert  Haller  Tracy  Fund,  20,000.00 

Elizabeth  H.  Gates  Fund,   50,000.00 

Sarah  A.  Gates  Fund,   10,000.00 

Charlotte  A.  Watson  Fund,   5,000.00 

Total,  $95,000.00 


After  setting  aside  the  gift  of  Mr.  Jewett  as  a  picture 
fund,  and,  after  the  payment  of  outstanding  debts,  there 
remained  the  sum  of  $9,760.95,  which  formed  the  basis 
of  the  present  maintenance  fund,  which  amounts  to 
nearly  $140,000.00." 


$2,000.00 
5,000.00 

413-73 
5,000.00 


[    140  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

The  Scripture,  "To  him  that  hath  shall  be 
given,"  was  in  the  near  future  to  be  justified 
by  events. 

The  age  of  literature  and  poesy  in  behalf  of 
the  Academy  was  now  ended.  Poppenberg's 
and  Wahle's  harmonies  were  fast  becoming 
dreamy  memories,  to  be  awakened  only  on 
extraordinary  occasions  or  when  ladies  were 
put  in  charge  of  things.  It  was  evident  that 
new  blood  had  been  infused  into  the  patient  — 
younger  and  richer. 

Many  sincere  friends  of  art,  and  friends  of 
those  who  had  borne  the  brunt  of  the  difficul- 
ties which  impeded  the  forward  march  of  the 
Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy,  found  matter  for 
discontent  in  the  character  of  some  of  the  works 
admitted  at  the  exhibition;  they  looked  with 
contempt  on  much  that  was  its  property, 
whether  by  purchase  or  gift.  Some  had  formed 
their  art  idea  from  what  they  had  seen  and 
heard  in  their  short  sojourns  in  Europe,  but 
few  of  these  were  willing  to  lend  the  helping 
hand  with  coin  to  mend  the  matter,  as  else- 
where mentioned.  This  feeling  even  went  so 
far,  that  one  of  these  who  did  try  to  change 
things  for  the  better  by  a  handsome  bequest 
[   141  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


thought  best  to  confine  her  donation  to  the 
purchase  of  European  art  exclusively. 

Mr.  Plumb  had  many  influential  friends  who 
were  interested  in  art  and  willing  to  help  along, 
both  by  brain  and  purse.  Through  his  agency, 
or  recommendation,  some  excellent  paintings, 
both  European  and  American,  were  added  to 
the  exhibition,  others  less  desirable  being 
removed  to  make  room  for  them.  More  careful 
business  methods  were  also  adopted,  made 
necessary  for  the  proper  use  and  care  of  the 
Academy's  increasing  wealth. 

A  somewhat  memorable  exhibition  was  held 
in  1890.  This  was  a  number  of  extraordinary 
pictures  by  Vereshchagin,  the  Russian  painter, 
mostly  of  large  size  and  of  excellent  technique. 
At  the  same  time  an  opportunity  was  given  to 
the  public  of  seeing  that  charming  and  justly 
celebrated  picture  called  "The  Angelus,"  by 
the  late  Francois  Millet,  the  great  French 
painter. 

An  important  addition  to  the  Gallery's  art 
treasures  was  made  the  next  year,  and  is 
reported  in  Mr.  Chapin's  book  as  follows:  ''A 
print  department  of  the  Academy  was  founded 
March  21,  1891,  by  Dr.  Frederick  H.  James 

f    142  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


and  Willis  O.  Chapin ;  Doctor  James  presenting 
to  the  Academy  his  unequaled  collection  of 
etchings  by  Francis  Seymour  Haden,  and  Mr. 
Chapin  presenting  his  collection  of  engravings. 
The  west  gallery  was  set  apart  for  these  col- 
lections, the  donors  furnishing  cases  and  cabi- 
nets, with  the  condition  that  the  same  be  used 
solely  for  their  collections,  and  also  printed 
catalogues.  Additions  have  since  been  made 
by  the  donors  from  time  to  time  to  both  col- 
lections." 

In  1892,  as  elsewhere  stated,  the  Academy 
tendered  free  use  of  the  outer  room  to  The 
Society  of  Artists  for  their  library,  et  cetera. 
It  was  also  given  free  use  of  the  Gallery  for 
its  exhibitions.  The  same  year  the  Bohemian 
Sketch  Club  held  its  first  annual  meeting  and 
exposition. 

Mr.  Ralph  H.  Plumb  had  now  held  office  as 
president  five  years,  and  declining  reelection, 
Dr.  Frederick  H.  James  was  elected  in  1894. 

The  following  quotation  from  the  closing 
paragraphs  of  Mr.  Chapin 's  book  tells  its  own 
story.  The  writer  takes  the  liberty  of  giving  it 
verbatim:  "On  November  2,  1898,  Honorable 
William  Pryor  Letchworth,  Josiah  Jewett,  Hon. 

[   143  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

James  M.  Smith,  L.  G.  Sellstedt,  and  George  S. 
Hazard  were  elected  Honorary  members  of  the 
Academy.  Other  members  than  those  already 
named  have  rendered  important  services  to 
the  Academy.  George  B.  Hayes  and  Edmund 
Hayes,  vice-presidents  for  many  years,  have 
been  among  the  most  earnest  and  efficient 
officers.  They  have  performed  many  important 
duties,  both  in  the  art  and  the  business  affairs 
of  the  Academy.  As  members  of  its  Executive 
Board,  some  of  them  for  many  years,  Edwin 
T.  Evans,  Jewett  M.  Richmond,  William  H. 
Gratwick,  Andrew  Langdon,  Thomas  T.  Rams- 
dell,  Richard  K.  Noye,  Henry  W.  Sprague, 
Charles  R.  Wilson,  Gen.  John  C.  Graves, 
Nathaniel  Rochester,  Worthington  C.  Miner, 
P.  H.  Griffin,  Dr.  De  Lancey  Rochester,  John 
H.  Cowing,  Dr.  Matthew  D.  Mann,  Charles 
D.  Marshall,  George  P.  Sawyer,  and  Carleton 
Sprague  have  been  constant  in  their  zeal  in 
all  matters  calculated  to  promote  the  welfare  of 
the  Academy.  During  the  thirty-six  years  of 
its  existence,  the  Academy  has  maintained  a 
permanent  collection  of  paintings  and  has  given 
frequent  special  exhibitions  of  the  best  works 
of  art  obtainable.  Its  collections  have  steadily 

[    144  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


increased  in  extent  and  importance.  It  has 
contributed  annually  to  the  support  of  the  Art 
School.  Its  funds  have  been  carefully  preserved, 
and  added  to,  with  the  view  at  some  future 
time  of  providing  it  with  a  suitable  building  of 
its  own  with  adequate  collections  in  its  various 
departments.  The  importance  of  the  Academy 
as  an  educational  factor  in  this  community  is 
rapidly  increasing;  the  measure  of  its  success 
must  depend  on  the  continuance  of  the  same 
interest  shown  by  the  public-spirited  citi- 
zens who  have  been  its  founders  and  bene- 
factors." 

In  1889,  the  writer  resigned  the  ofHce  of 
superintendent,  and,  though  still  on  the  Execu- 
tive Board,  he  felt  that  the  business  and  con- 
duct of  the  Academy  now  being  in  practical 
and  willing  hands,  his  professional  aid  and 
services  were  no  longer  needed.  The  object  he 
had  worked  for  was  attained,  the  futtire  of  the 
Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy  was  no  longer 
problematical,  it  had  come  to  stay,  and  he 
could  now  devote  the  remainder  of  life  to  his 
own  pleasure  or  business  without  the  weight  of 
responsibility  of  a  public  nature. 

Later,  Arthur  E.  Hoddick  was  made  super- 

[    145  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


intendent,  but,  in  point  of  fact,  Mr.  Plumb 
during  the  four  succeeding  years  of  his  presi- 
dency virtually  filled  both  offices — and  filled 
them  well;  and  his  refusal  to  be  again  elected 
in  1894  was  greatly  regretted,  for  much  good 
had  been  effected  during  his  term  of  office.  He 
was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Frederick  H.  James,  who 
had  already  given  proof  of  his  devotion  to  the 
interests  of  the  Academy  by  his  liberal  dona- 
tion (fully  described  in  Mr.  Chapin's  book),  and 
in  many  other  ways.  Mr.  J.  J.  Albright  was 
made  president  in  1895  and  served  two  years, 
followed  by  the  Hon.  T.  Guilford  Smith  for  two 
years  more.  General  Edmund  Hayes  was  presi- 
dent for  the  next  two  years;  and  in  1905  Mr. 
Plumb  was  again  elected. 

The  meeting  of  the  Executive  Board  of  the 
Fine  Arts  Academy,  held  in  the  Buffalo  Club, 
January  15,  1900,  was  epochal  in  its  annals, 
for  it  was  then  that  Mr.  Plumb  announced  Mr. 
Albright's  determination  to  give  the  institution 
a  permanent  home  in  a  suitable  building,  to 
cost  not  less  than  $350,000.  The  offer  was 
accompanied  with  a  suggestion,  that  in  order 
to  keep  the  Academy's  possession  in  good  con- 
dition when  the  building  should  be  finished,  eT 

[    146  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


fund  for  its  preservation  ought  to  be  raised  by 
subscription. 

It  is  pleasant  to  record  that  the  larger  part 
of  this  proposed  endowment  was  subscribed  by 
some  of  the  members  of  the  Board  before  leav- 
ing the  room,  and  that  the  generous  donor  was 
himself  among  them. 

Though  in  a  measure  prepared  to  hear  of 
something  good  to  come,  the  writer  who,  on 
account  of  advanced  years,  scarcely  had  hoped  to 
see  with  mortal  eyes  so  successful  a  culmination 
of  the  idea  long  and  zealously  worked  for,  could 
not  restrain  the  tear  that  gathered  to  the  eyes  " 
as  he  rose  to  offer  halting  thanks  to  the  giver. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Plumb,  it  was  unani- 
mously decided  that  the  proposed  edifice  should 
be  known  as  ''The  Albright  Art  Gallery."  A 
site  had  already  been  selected  in  a  prominent 
and  picturesque  part  of  the  city's  delightful 
park  overlooking  the  lake  and  pleasure-grounds, 
which  on  application  was  allowed  by  the  Park 
Commissioners  and  ceded  by  the  city. 

In  the  meantime  the  Pan-American  Expo- 
sition had  been  determined  on,  and  its  promot- 
ers had  decided  on  a  portion  of  the  park  and 
some  adjacent  territory  as  its  location.  No  time 

[   147  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


was  lost  by  Mr.  Albright  in  laying  the  founda- 
tion for  the  palace  of  art  his  liberal  mind  had 
conceived;  but  owing  to  delay  in  furnishing 
materials,  notably  the  marble  of  which  it  was 
to  be  constructed,  much  time  was  lost  and  the 
idea  of  its  completion  in  time  for  the  opening 
of  the  Exposition  was  given  up.  Instead,  a  brick 
building  on  the  same  plan  and  size  was  erected 
in  another  part  of  the  park  for  the  reception  of 
the  expected  art  treasures  promised.  This,  too, 
at  Mr.  Albright's  expense  if  the  writer  is  not 
misinformed.  Meantime,  the  walls  of  the 
present  structure  were  slowly  rising,  and  during 
the  Exposition  offered  an  additional  point  of 
interest  to  the  visiting  multitude. 

The  altered  finances  of  the  Academy  neces- 
sitated a  radical  change  in  its  constitution.  In 
fact,  its  interests  were  now  in  the  hands  of  men 
accustomed  to  strict  business  methods  and 
close  accounting,  of  little  use  when  there  was 
little  or  nothing  to  account  for,  since  deficien- 
cies were  met  out  of  the  pockets  of  those  in 
charge,  or  even  later,  when  matters  were  less 
complicated  and  in  the  hands  of  a  Committee 
on  Funds.  Wealth  now  brought  cares  that  must 
be  met  with  different  methods. 

[    148  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

The  writer  disclaims  all  intimacy  with  such 
necessary  evils,  and  will  not  attempt  further 
explanation,  which,  after  all,  only  concerns  the 
caretakers  of  the  interests  of  the  Buffalo  Fine 
Arts  Academy.  The  only  part  of  the  new  con- 
stitution to  which  it  may  be  necessary  to 
allude  is  that  formerly  the  president  was 
elected  by  direct  vote  of  all  the  members 
and  that  he  is  now  chosen  by  the  Board. 

The  Pan-American  Exposition  was  opened 
two  years  after  the  ground  was  broken  in  the 
environs  of  the  park  and  part  of  the  park  itself, 
in  which  the  brick  substitute  for  the  Albright 
Art  Gallery  was  located,  following  the  projected 
plan  of  the  marble  structure  in  course  of  erec- 
tion. This  magnificent  Exposition  in  itself 
might  well  be  considered  part  of  Buffalo's  art, 
since  its  ideal  and  realization  could  have  no 
other  name.  The  topographic,  aquatic,  and 
electrical  elements  were  the  results  of  genius; 
it  was  the  work  of  imagination  to  idealize  how 
a  common  farm,  destitute  of  water  or  other 
natural  attractions,  could  be  transformed  into 
a  wonderful  Arcadian  phenomenon  of  beauty. 
To  realize  this  required  art.  In  places  hitherto 
only  watered  by  the  rains  of  heaven  bodies  of 

[   149  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


water  must  be  created  to  bear  gondolas  and 
barges,  wonderful  fountains  and  cascades,  illu- 
minated with  iridescent  electrical  tints.  Archi- 
tecture, sculpture,  painting,  all  must  lend  their 
aid.  To  make  it  Pan-American,  all  must  be 
steeped  in  color,  gay  and  lustrous,  but  artistic- 
ally correct.  To  one  of  the  best  artists  in  our 
country,  Mr.  C.  Y.  Turner,  was  confided  this 
duty,  and  those  who  remember  the  chaste  har- 
mony of  every  part  will  never  forget  how  well 
he  had  performed  his  part.  Besides  the  general 
effect  of  harmonious  colors  and  architectural 
beauty,  wealth  of  art,  in  plaster  worthy  of  being 
perpetuated  in  marble  or  bronze,  met  the  eye 
everywhere. 

All  this  might  have  made  our  city's  Exposi- 
tion a  theme  of  marked  praise  in  the  history  of 
exhibitions  had  it  not  been  eclipsed  by  a  catas- 
trophe which,  like  a  convulsion  of  nature,  left 
nothing  but  its  own  memory. 

The  news  of  the  assassination  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  fell  like  a  pall  on  the 
Pan-American.  Its  shadow  covered  all;  it  put 
a  stop  to  gaiety,  made  industries  forgotten,  and 
covered  art  and  nature's  beauty  with  universal 
gloom. 

[    150  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Besides  the  shock  to  the  whole  country 
that  its  chief  magistrate  had  fallen  by  the  hand 
of  a  crazed  nihilist,  there  was  in  every  breast  a 
feeling  of  grief  for  the  man  who  by  his  wisdom 
in  office,  simplicity  of  conduct,  and  sympa- 
thetic nature  had  endeared  himself  alike  to  all 
classes  of  his  fellow  citizens. 

Irrelevant  though  it  may  be,  the  writer 
desires  here  to  pause,  in  memory  of  the  sad 
pleasure  of  recalling  the  few  gracious  words 
and  warm  hand-shake  he  with  other  officers  of 
the  Exposition  received  from  this  model  of  an 
American  gentleman  in  the  same  place  where 
the  next  day,  at  the  public  reception,  the 
miserable  assassin,  in  the  spirit  of  a  Judas,  as  he 
was  passing,  drew  from  its  concealment  the 
pistol  that  fired  the  fatal  shot. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  the  art  exhibi- 
tion of  the  Pan-American  Exposition  was  in 
charge  of  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy.  As  it 
was  a  matter  of  unusual  importance,  both  in 
character  and  extent,  great  care  was  taken  in 
the  selection  of  works  of  art  offered  from  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  United  States.  A  committee  of 
distinguished  artists  from  out  of  town  was 
invited  for  the  purpose.  Mr.  William  A.  Coffin 

[   151  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

of  New  York,  who  to  his  quaHties  as  artist  and 
gentleman  added  knowledge  and  clear-headed- 
ness in  business  affairs,  was  chosen  director,  an 
office  which  he  filled  with  rare  satisfaction  to 
all  concerned. 

The  exposition  in  this  improvised  Albright 
Art  Gallery  consisted  mainly  of  the  works  of 
our  own  American  artists,  though  one  of  the 
rooms  was  wholly  devoted  to  an  excellent  col- 
lection of  Canadian  paintings.  The  Central  and 
South  American  pictures,  most  of  which  were 
of  great  interest  and  excellent  of  technique, 
were  exhibited  in  the  buildings  representing 
their  own  countries. 

Though  many  pictures  in  the  Art  Gallery 
were  painted  in  Europe  they  were  the  works  of 
American  painters,  among  which  were  found 
some  of  the  best  work  of  such  men  as  Whistler, 
Sargent,  Abbey,  and  others  of  world-wide  repu- 
tation. At  the  close  of  the  Exposition  the  Acad- 
emy's collection  was  enriched  by  the  purchase 
of  several  valuable  paintings  by  American 
artists. 

The  part  of  the  new  building  set  apart  for 
the  use  of  the  School  and  The  Society  of  Artists 
having  been  made  habitable  long  before  it  had 

[    152  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


received  its  finishing  touches  was  taken  posses- 
sion of  without  delay.  In  the  new  order  of 
things  several  departments  not  at  first  contem- 
plated by  the  originators  had  been  added  to 
the  School.  Crafts  had  also  found  a  place  with 
Arts,  and  teachers  in  each  of  the  different 
departments  had  been  provided.  Not  only  were 
drawing,  painting,  and  sculpture  taught,  but 
wood-carving,  designing,  wall-paper  decoration, 
lace  patterns,  and  even  artistic  book-binding 
and  jewelry  manufacture  could  be  studied  there 
under  competent  instructors.  It  is  pleasant  for 
those  who  in  less  auspicious  times  worked  for 
the  advance  of  art  to  know  that  some  of  these 
able  teachers  had  their  start  in  the  school  of 
those  primitive  days. 

From  the  Academy  Notes,  1905-19 06,  the 
publication  of  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy, 
ably  conducted  and  edited  by  Mr.  Charles  M. 
Kurtz,  the  director,  the  following  extract  may 
be  of  interest  both  to  the  student  and  the 
general  public: 

"During  recent  years  the  school  has  been 
very  successful.  Many  of  its  students  have 
gained  recognition  in  their  profession,  and  the 
influence  of  the  League  upon  the  community 

[   153  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


has  been  excellent,  and  effective.  The  school 
has  ranked  high  in  comparison  with  the  other 
art  schools  of  America.  As  an  evidence  of  its 
standard  of  teaching  may  be  mentioned  that 
in  a  recent  competition  for  twelve  New  York 
Art  Students'  League  scholarships,  open  to 
students  in  the  various  art  schools  of  this 
country,  six  out  of  the  twelve  were  won  by 
students  of  the  League — though  students  of 
many  different  institutions  entered  the  lists. 
The  judges  for  the  competition  —  Kenyon  Cox, 
George  B.  Bridgman,  W.  H.  Foote,  E.  C. 
Taylor  and  Herman  A.  Mac  Neil — in  their 
report  made  special  mention  of  the  excellent 
quality  of  the  work  sent  by  the  Art  Students' 
League  of  Buffalo,  which  they  stated  would 
reflect  credit  upon  any  school." 

Some  years  ago,  when  the  writer  was  in 
Europe,  he  observed  that  the  word  American  was 
a  not  uncommon  afhx  to  goods  for  domestic  uses, 
which  was  understood  to  be  an  extra  guarantee 
of  the  superiority  of  the  wares  offered  for  sale 
in  merchants'  shops.  Our  edge-tools  were  better 
made,  of  the  best  steel,  superior  in  form,  finish, 
and  temper,  when  genuine ;  for  it  was  said  that 
articles  inferior  to  their  own  were  sometimes 
[   154  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


marked  with  American  names  by  European 
makers  to  discredit  the  American  reputation. 

Of  our  agricultural  implements  nothing  need 
be  said  to  emphasize  their  credit.  Even  in  Ger- 
many, one  of  the  most  enlightened  countries  of 
the  world,  and  from  which  we  have  learned 
much  and  may  have  much  to  learn,  it  may  still 
be  seen  by  the  passing  traveler  that  the  mag- 
nificent picture,  now  the  property  of  the  Buf- 
falo Fine  Arts  Academy,  ''The Haymakers,  "  by 
Lhermitte,  is  no  work  of  pure  imagination. 
Ideas  travel  fast  in  our  day,  and  it  may  be  that 
by  this  time  the  identical  scene  (barring  artistic 
composition),  enacted  on  a  field  through  which 
the  railway  was  carrying  the  writer  a  couple  of 
decades  ago,  has  been  spoiled  for  picturesque 
purposes  by  American  ideas.  America  owes 
much  to  German  thought ;  to  French  complete- 
ness, polish,  and  vivacity  of  brain;  to  English 
laws,  business  methods,  and  practical  inven- 
tions. Nay,  we  are  indebted  to  an  Italian  for 
our  wonderful  power  to  make  the  air  our 
*'Puck"  to  carry  thought  from  land  to  land 
without  the  need  of  furnishing  him  with  metal- 
lic wings;  but  let  not  the  world  forget  that  it 
was  our  country  that  was  first  to  aid  Marconi 

[    155  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


to  realize  his  idea.  Watts'  teakettle  may  have 
shown  the  practical  value  of  steam,  but  it  was 
an  American  that  built  the  first  practical 
steamboat.  Oersted,  the  Dane,  discovered  the 
electromagnetic  principles  which  an  American 
artist,  Morse,  turned  into  practical  use  by 
inventing  the  telegraph  and  its  simple  alphabet 
in  his  leisure  hours  from  painting  or  conducting 
his  art  school.  These  are  but  a  few  of  the  evi- 
dences of  the  ever-active  American  brain,  and 
one  needs  but  glance  at  an  American  magazine 
to  see  our  advance  in  the  art  of  illustrative 
design.  Our  exhibitions  in  the  National  Acad- 
emy are  constantly  improving  in  finish,  as  well 
as  in  color  and  character.  There  would  be 
greater  hope  for  the  future  of  American  art  if 
painters  like  Abbey,  Whistler,  Vedder,  and 
others  living  in  Europe  could  have  found  the 
recognition  in  their  own  land  which  their  works 
have  compelled  abroad. 

The  ladies  of  the  study-class  were  women 
of  culture  and  refinement  desirous  of  adding 
a  general  knowledge  of  the  principles  and 
history  of  art  to  other  accomplishments  with- 
out professional  or  practical  views.  Still,  there 
were  some  of  the  same  class  in  society  that 

[   156  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


did  not  think  it  incompatible  with  their  social 
position  to  adopt  art  as  a  profession.  The 
writer  may  be  pardoned  if  he  mentions  by 
name  a  few  of  these  with  whose  work  he  is 
familiar  and  with  whom  he  is  personally  ac- 
quainted: Miss  Alice  B.  Muzzy,  who  conducts 
a  school  of  her  own  and  is  well  known  as  a 
contributor  to  art  literature,  Mrs.  Anna  Belle 
Kindlund,  Miss  Claire  Shuttleworth,  Mrs.  E. 
K.  Baker  Thompson,  Miss  Eugenie  Hauen- 
stein.  Miss  Cornelia  Bentley  Sage,  Mrs.  J. 
Lewis  Nichols,  Miss  Arietta  Lothrop,  Mrs. 
Linda  de  K.  Fulton,  Mrs.  France,  Miss  Isabel 
Ross,  Mrs.  F.  McCaig,  Mrs.  Grace  Caldwell 
Farnham,  Mrs.  William  H.  Glenny  (born  An- 
nan), remembered  also  for  her  poetic  genius 
of  high  order.  Miss  Rose  Clark,  Miss  Clara  E. 
Sackett,  and  Mrs.  Knowlton  Mixer,  the  last 
three  being,  so  to  speak,  exotics,  owing  their 
artistic  education  to  Paris  and  other  art  centers. 
Mrs.  John  C.  Graves  has  turned  her  attention 
mostly  to  sculpture,  and  has  been  employed 
chiefly  on  portrait  works  in  which  she  has  been 
quite  successful,  both  as  to  resemblance  and 
character. 

These  names,  familiar  to  the  writer,  are 

[    167  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


recorded  without  prejudice  to  other  ladies 
unknown  to  him  who  may  be  equally  entitled 
to  a  place  in  the  list  of  the  lady  artists  of  our 
city. 

The  following  record  is  from  the  Academy 
Notes  of  June,  1905:  "From  1894  until  last 
year  Lucius  W.  Hitchcock  was  the  principal 
instructor  of  the  school.  At  present  the  instruct- 
ors and  classes  are  as  follows : 

"  Urquhart  Wilcox,  instructor  in  drawing  from 
the  antique  and  from  life,  advanced  composi- 
tion, illustration,  and  the  evening  sketch  class. 

''Edward  Dufner,  instructor  in  painting  and 
in  composition. 

''James  E.  Eraser,  instructor  in  modeling 
and  sculpture. 

"Miss  Mary  B.  W.  Coxe,  instructor  in  draw- 
ing from  the  antique,  the  women's  life  class, 
the  children's  class,  sketch  classes,  and  ele- 
mentary composition. 

"Bernard  V.  Carpenter,  instructor  in  design, 
water  color,  applied  arts,  and  the  teachers'  class. 

"Henry  E.  Bennett,  Henry  J.  Baker,  and 
Eric  F.  J.  Ericson  are  assistant  instructors  in 
metal  work,  wood  working,  and  manual  train- 
ing and  wood  carving. 

[    158  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

''Miss  Mabel  Rodebaugh  is  instructor  in 
book-binding,  basket  and  bead  weaving,  and 
leather  embossing. 

"  Dr.  H.  G.  Matzinger  is  lecturer  on  anatomy. 

"Miss  Arietta  Lothrop,  who  was  one  of  the 
organizers  of  the  Students'  Art  Club,  has  been 
the  efhcient  superintendent  of  the  Art  Students' 
League  since  its  establishment. 

"The  government  of  the  school  is  vested  in 
the  hands  of  the  members  of  the  League,  with 
a  strong  advisory  committee  composed  of  mem- 
bers of  the  Academy.  The  present  officers  of  the 
League  are  George  P.  Sawyer,  President ;  Mrs. 
John  Clark  Glenny,  First  Vice-President;  Miss 
Helen  M.  Horton,  Second  Vice-President ;  Mrs. 
Charles  G.  Shepard,  Secretary;  Miss  Arietta 
Lothrop,  Treasurer;  Miss  Harriet  C.  Taber, 
Hugh  A.  Sloan  and  Philip  Sherwood  Smith.  The 
Advisory  Committee  of  the  Bufifalo  Fine  Arts 
Academy  consists  of  Dr.  T.  Guilford  Smith, 
J.  J.  Albright,  Carleton  Sprague,  Dr.  Matthew 
D.  Mann,  and  Ralph  H.  Plumb." 

Mr.  John  J.  Albright's  magnificent  gift  of  a 
permanent  home  for  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts 
Academy  which  had  been  four  years  in  building 
was  substantially  complete  and  ready  to  receive 

[    159  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


the  choice  loan  collection  selected  by  its  newly 
appointed  and  energetic  and  capable  director, 
Mr.  Charles  M.  Kurtz,  to  grace  the  inaugura- 
tion that  took  place  on  the  31st  of  May,  1905. 

Since  this  was  written,  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts 
Academy  has  met  with  a  serious,  if  not  irrep- 
arable, loss  in  the  sudden  and  unexpected 
death  of  its  able  director,  Mr.  Charles  M. 
Kurtz.  The  extent  of  the  calamity  to  the  Acad- 
emy is  not  at  the  present  so  deeply  felt  as  it 
may  be  in  the  future,  since  the  ideas  of  the 
deceased  are  ably  carried  out  by  Miss  Cornelia 
Bentley  Sage,  the  Acting  Director,  whose  talents 
and  efficiency  have  been  amply  proved  at  all 
times  during  the  temporary  absences  of  Mr. 
Kurtz,  who  placed  implicit  confidence  in  her 
zeal  and  judgment. 

The  following  beautiful  sonnet  was  written 
by  Miss  Sage  at  the  time  of  the  dedication  of 
the  Albright  Art  Gallery: 

GLORIAMUNDI 

To  stand  within  these  glistening  walls  of  white, 
Where  richest  treasures  born  of  genius  lie, 
And  gems  of  art  each  with  the  other  vie, — 
To  steep  oneself  in  beauty,  with  the  right 
To  linger  there ;  to  look  upon  the  height 
Of  stately  columns,  reared  in  majesty, 

[   160  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


And  classic  roofs  that  gleam  beneath  the  sky ! 
Could  greater  glory  charm  the  ravished  sight 
Of  him  whose  generous  impulse  gave  thee  birth  ? 
What  shall  we  say  of  him  ?    Our  temple's  fame 
Outrivals  the  fair  fame  of  Greece !  since  he 
Who  builds  for  other  men  hath  greater  worth 
Than  kings  and  councilors, —  a  nobler  name 
Than  princes,  for  he  builds  unselfishly. 

Cornelia  Bentley  Sage. 

Instead  of  using  the  correct  and  graphic 
account  in  the  Academy  Notes  of  July,  1905,  of 
the  inauguration  ceremonies  as  a  base  for  an 
abbreviated  description  of  them,  as  originally 
intended,  the  writer,  on  mature  reflection,  has 
concluded  to  give  it  entire  in  its  own  words. 

DEDICATION  CEREMONIES 

ALBRIGHT   ART  GALLERY 

Wednesday,  May  31,  1905 

A  FINER  day  for  the  Dedication  ceremonies 
could  not  be  imagined.  The  sun  was  shining 
brightly  in  a  sky  of  deep  blue  with  only  an 
occasional  filmy  white  cloud.  The  tempera- 
ture was  cool  without  dampness  or  chill.  The 
rains  of  the  week  preceding  had  given  the 
grass  and  foliage  fresh  luxuriance  and  increased 
richness  of  color.  The  white  marble  art  palace, 
rising  out  of  the  mass  of  bright  variegated 

[    161  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

greens  into  an  ''Italian  blue"  sky  seemed  to 
express  a  purer  beauty  and  more  impressive 
dignity  than  ever  before,  and  constituted 
a  majestic  background  for  the  tiers  of  out- 
door seats  covering  the  terraces  of  the  east 
front. 

The  tremendous  assemblage  of  people  in 
bright  costumes  gave  a  sparkling  play  of  color 
to  the  immediate  foreground,  and  this  was  well 
relieved  by  the  greensward  of  the  terraces  at 
the  sides. 

From  the  seats  of  the  spectators  the  view 
was  charming  in  another  way.  Beyond  the 
speakers'  stand  the  expanse  of  the  lake  with  its 
numerous  pleasure-boats,  its  distant  wooded 
shores  and  the  deep  blue  of  the  sky  reflected  by 
its  surface  made  a  picture  rivaling  in  beauty 
the  painted  gems  of  the  Loan  Collection. 

The  arrangements  for  the  comfort  of  the 
guests  were  admirable.  Each  section  of  the 
seats  was  designated  by  a  distinctive  color  and 
the  seat  coupons  for  the  section  were  of  the 
same  color.  The  ushers  were  numerous,  ready 
and  informed,  and  every  one  of  the  several 
thousand  spectators  was  shown  his  or  her  seat 
promptly,  easily,  and  without  confusion.  All 

[    162  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


the  details  of  the  event  very  nearly  approxi- 
mated perfection. 

At  four  o'clock  the  distinguished  person- 
ages who  were  to  participate  in  the  ceremo- 
nies, accompanied  by  the  Directors  of  the 
Fine  Arts  Academy,  marched  from  the  Park 
Casino  to  reserved  seats  near  the  speakers' 
stand,  and  the  exercises  began.  Mr.  R.  H. 
Plumb,  President  of  the  Academy,  presided. 

First  was  the  singing  by  the  Orpheus, 
Saengerbund,  Teutonia  Liederkranz,  and  Guido 
societies  and  other  voices,  of  Beethoven's  im- 
pressive chorus: 

"The  heavens  are  telUng  the  Lord's  endless  glory, 
Through  all  the  Earth  his  praise  is  found ; 
The  seas  re-echo  the  marvelous  story : 

O  man,  repeat  that  glorious  sound.       .  ." 

Professor  Horatio  Parker  of  Yale  Univer- 
sity conducted  the  Chorus. 

Then  President  Charles  William  Eliot,  of 
Harvard  University,  was  introduced  and  de- 
livered an  address  on  Beauty  and  Democ- 
racy." He  spoke  as  follows: 

PRESIDENT  ELIOT's  ADDRESS 

The  ultimate  object  of  democracy  is  to 
increase  the  satisfactions  and  joys  of  life  for 

[    163  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


the  great  mass  of  the  people  —  to  increase 
them  absolutely  and  also  relatively  to  pains 
and  sorrows.  In  other  words,  the  final  aim  of 
government  by  the  people  for  the  people  is  to 
increase  to  the  highest  possible  degree,  and  for 
the  greatest  possible  number  of  persons,  the 
pleasurable  sensations  or  cheerful  feelings  which 
contribute  to  make  life  happy  and  to  reduce  to 
lowest  terms  the  preventable  evils  which  go  to 
make  life  miserable.  The  reduction  of  evil  is  an 
indirect  benefit.  The  direct  way  to  promote 
that  public  happiness  which  is  the  ultimate 
object  of  democracy  is  to  increase  the  number, 
variety,  and  intensity  of  those  sensations  and 
emotions  which  give  innocent  and  frequently 
recurring  pleasure.  This  increase  of  well-being 
should  take  effect  on  the  masses  of  the  demo- 
cratic population;  although  the  select  few  who 
possess  unusual  capacity  or  good-will  will  inev- 
itably get  more  than  their  proportional  share 
of  the  general  well-being.  The  natural  and 
genuine  leader,  discoverer  or  superior  person 
cannot  but  get  unusual  satisfaction  out  of  the 
benefits  he  confers;  and  a  true  democracy  will 
be  glad  he  does,  recognizing  that  his  superi- 
ority does  not  obstruct  or  lessen  the  happiness 
of  the  common  people,  but  rather  promotes  it. 
Nevertheless,  the  democratic  goal  is  the  happi- 
ness of  the  common  mass. 

Among  the  means  of  increasing  innocent 

[   164  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


pleasurable  sensations  and  emotions  for  multi- 
tudes of  men  and  women,  none  is  more  potent 
than  the  cultivation  of  the  sense  of  beauty. 
Beauty  means  a  thing  enjoyable.  It  must 
always  be  something  which  excites  in  human 
beings  pleasurable  sensations  and  emotions. 
Beauty  is  infinitely  various,  and  it  is  omni- 
present. It  is  accessible,  therefore,  to  all  men  in 
all  places  and  in  all  moods ;  and  its  infinite 
value  for  pleasure  and  content  only  waits  on 
the  development  of  the  capacity  in  human 
beings  to  feel  and  to  appreciate  it. 

The  enjoyment  of  beauty  is  unselfish.  When 
one  solitary  man  feels  it,  he  does  not,  by  his 
enjoyment  of  it,  deprive  any  other  creature  of 
the  same  felicity;  on  the  contrary,  in  most 
instances  his  enjoyment  is  much  enhanced  by 
sharing  it  with  sympathetic  souls.  The  child 
who  enjoys,  she  knows  not  why,  the  exquisite 
forms  and  colors  of  a  single  pansy  does  not  shut 
out  other  people  from  experiencing  the  same 
sensations  at  sight  of  the  same  pansy;  and  she 
finds  her  pleasure  only  increased  when  father 
and  mother  and  playmates  share  it  with  her. 
When,  at  rare  intervals,  the  snow-clad  Mount 
Rainier  reveals  itself,  touched  by  the  rays  of 
the  setting  sun,  to  far-off  Seattle,  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  solitary  street-sweeper  who  has 
first  noticed  it  is  only  enhanced  when  the  peo- 
ple run  out  of  their  houses  to  enjoy  the  mag- 

[   165  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


nificent  spectacle.  In  their  spiritual  effects 
aesthetic  pleasures  differ  widely  from  pleasures 
like  those  of  eating  and  drinking,  which  are 
exhausted  on  the  individual  who  enjoys  them. 
The  happiness  of  loving  things  beautiful  is  in  a 
high  degree  a  social  form  of  happiness ;  and  it  is 
the  aim  of  democracy  to  develop  social  happi- 
ness, as  well  as  individual. 

It  is  undeniable  that  the  American  democ- 
racy, which  found  its  strongest  and  most 
durable  springs  in  the  ideals  of  New  England 
Puritanism,  has  thus  far  failed  to  take  proper 
account  of  the  sense  of  beauty  as  means  of 
happiness  and  to  provide  for  the  training  of 
that  sense.  On  the  main  gate  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity there  stands  this  inscription,  taken 
from  ''New  England's  First  Fruits,"  a  little 
book  published  in  London  in  1643  •  ''After  God 
had  carried  us  safe  to  New  England  and  we  had 
builded  our  houses,  provided  necessaries  for  our 
livelihood,  reared  convenient  places  for  God's 
worship  and  settled  the  civil  government,  one 
of  the  next  things  we  longed  for  and  looked 
after  was  to  advance  learning  and  perpetuate 
it  to  posterity,  dreading  to  leave  an  illiterate 
ministry  to  the  churches  when  our  present 
ministers  shall  lie  in  the  dust."  That  sentence 
still  describes  the  main  objects  which  present 
themselves  to  the  minds  of  the  present  genera- 
tion of  Americans  when  they  settle  a  new 

[   166  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


region  or  reconstruct  an  old  one  —  houses, 
livelihood,  churches,  civil  government,  and 
education;  and  still  that  order  of  develop- 
ment commonly  prevails,  except  that  educa- 
tion is  nowadays  put  earlier.  To  that  list  it  is 
time  to  add  the  cultivation  of  the  sense  of 
beauty,  or  rather  to  interfuse  that  cultivation 
sympathetically  with  every  item  on  the  list. 
The  Puritan,  establishing  himself  painfully  on 
the  eastern  rim  of  the  wild  continent,  thought 
rather  of  duty  than  of  beauty,  and  distrusted 
pleasurable  sensations  and  emotions  as  prob- 
ably unworthy  of  a  serious  soul,  not  looking 
for  happiness  in  this  life,  but  only  in  the  next ; 
and  to  this  day  his  descendants  and  followers, 
spreading  across  the  broad  continent,  pay  far 
too  little  attention  to  the  means  of  promoting 
public  happiness.  They  seek  eagerly  material 
possessions  and  the  coarser  bodily  satisfactions, 
but  are  not  at  pains  to  discover  and  make 
available  the  emotional  and  spiritual  sources  of 
public  and  private  happiness.  It  is,  therefore, 
an  interesting  inquiry  how  the  sense  of  beauty 
and  the  delight  in  the  beautiful  are  to  be  im- 
planted, cultivated,  and  strengthened  among 
the  masses  of  the  American  population. 

The  oldest  and  readiest  means  of  cultivat- 
ing the  sense  of  beauty  is  habitual  observation 
of  the  heavens,  for  which  the  only  things 
needed  are  the  open  sight  of  the  sky  and  the 

[    167  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


observing  eye.  The  heavens  are  always  de- 
claring the  glory  of  God.  The  noblest  poetry  of 
all  nations  celebrates  the  majesty  and  splendor 
of  the  sky.  Psalmist,  prophet,  and  artist  draw 
thence  their  loftiest  teachings.  Sun,  moon,  and 
stars,  vSunset  and  sunrise,  clouds  tossed  and 
torn  by  wind,  floating  or  driving  mists  and 
fogs,  snow,  rain,  and  the  clear  blue  are  all  phe- 
nomena of  the  sky  which  will  afford  endless 
delights  to  him  who  watches  them.  The  dweller 
on  the  prairie  or  the  sea  has  the  best  chance  at 
the  sky,  and  the  dweller  in  narrow  streets, 
hemmed  in  by  tall  buildings,  has  the  worst. 
This  obstruction  of  the  sight  of  the  sky  is  one 
of  the  grave  evils  which  beset  a  modern  urban 
population.  City  people  run  about  at  the  bot- 
tom of  deep  ditches  and  often  can  see  only  a 
narrow  strip  of  the  heavens.  Fortunately,  the 
loftiest  structures  reared  by  man  are  not  so 
high  but  that  a  moderate  open  area  in  the 
midst  of  a  closely  built  city  will  give  a  pros- 
pect of  large  sections  of  the  heavens.  This  is 
one  of  the  great  things  gained  for  an  urban 
population  by  accessible  open  spaces,  such  as 
parks,  commons,  marshes,  and  reaches  or  ponds 
of  water. 

Next  to  observation  of  the  sky  as  means  of 
developing  the  sense  of  beauty  comes  observa- 
tion of  the  landscape.  Landscape  includes  in- 
numerable and  various  objects  of  beauty,  for  it 

[   168  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

includes  beauty  of  form,  of  texture,  of  color, 
and  of  luster.  Thus,  the  contours  and  surfaces 
of  hills  >  and  valleys  present  infinite  variety. 
Some  fields  and  pastures  are  convex  in  form; 
others  —  and  these  are  the  more  beautiful  — 
are  concave.  The  plant  and  tree  growths  which 
cover  portions  of  these  surfaces  also  present 
extraordinary  varieties  of  color  and  texture. 
Threads  or  sheets  of  water  add  silver  sheen.  In 
some  landscapes  it  is  a  single  object  like  Niag- 
ara which  absorbs  the  attention;  in  others,  it 
is  a  group  of  objects  as  in  the  Garden  of  the 
Gods  in  Colorado  or  the  Yosemite  in  California ; 
while  in  others  the  multitudinous  multiplica- 
tion of  the  same  form  is  the  interesting  feature, 
as  in  a  field  of  wheat  or  of  California  poppies, 
or  in  a  forest,  or  in  the  millions  of  equal  ripples 
on  a  sunlit  lake.  Over  every  landscape  hangs 
the  sky,  contributing  lights  and  shadows,  bril- 
liancy or  somberness,  perfect  calm  or  boister- 
ous windiness.  The  ear  shares  with  the  eye  the 
beautiful  effects  of  weather  on  landscape.  The 
rushing  of  the  storm  through  the  narrow  valley, 
the  murmuring  tremor  of  the  pines  in  the 
gentle  breeze,  the  rustling  and  bowing  of  a  field 
of  corn  in  an  August  gale,  the  clatter  of  pal- 
mettos in  a  wind,  the  rattle  of  pebbles  on  a 
beach  dragged  down  by  the  retiring  wave,  the 
onset  of  a  thundershower  are  delights  for  the 
ear  as  well  as  the  eye.  For  such  implanting  and 

[   169  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


developing  of  the  sense  of  beauty  in  the  minds 
of  urban  populations  a  large  new  provision  has 
been  made  by  many  American  cities  during 
the  last  twenty  years,  and  this  movement  is 
still  gathering  force.  It  will  result  in  great  gains 
for  public  happiness.  Democratic  society  is  not 
favorable  to  the  creation  and  permanent  hold- 
ing of  great  parks  and  forests  by  enduring 
families,  a  process  which  often  procured  im- 
portant advantages  for  the  public  in  feudal 
society.  The  king,  the  prince,  the  cardinal,  or 
the  court  favorite  held  great  estates  which 
easily  might  descend  through  many  genera- 
tions undiminished  and  well  maintained.  The 
whole  community  could  enjoy  in  some  measure 
the  landscape  beauty  thus  created  and  pre- 
served. Under  democratic  legislation  and  cus- 
tom it  is  difficult  to  transmit  from  generation 
to  generation  great  private  holdings  in  land.  It 
is,  therefore,  fortunate  that  the  democracy  has 
already  decided  that  it  will  itself  own  and  pre- 
serve for  public  uses  large  tracts  of  land.  Public 
ownership  will  provide  in  our  country  the  for- 
ests, parks,  river  banks,  and  beaches  which 
will  give  the  urban  and  suburban  population 
access  to  landscape  beauty. 

Another  means  of  increasing  the  enjoy- 
ment of  beauty  which  has  of  late  years  become 
commoner  in  our  country  than  it  used  to  be  is 
the  cultivation  of  flowers  and  flowering  shrubs 

[   170  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


in  houses  or  house-lots,  and  in  gardens  both 
pubHc  and  private.  This  cultivation  is  a  very 
humane  and  civilizing  source  of  enjoyment.  It 
is  usually  a  pleasure  shared  with  others,  and  it 
is  as  enjoyable  on  the  small  scale  as  on  the 
large  for  the  individual  planter  and  tender.  One 
of  the  encouraging  signs  about  American  syste- 
matic education  is  that  school  boards  and 
teachers  are  beginning  to  see  the  utility  of 
school  gardens.  ''How  Plants  Grow"  was  the 
title  of  one  of  Asa  Gray's  best  books.  The  place 
to  teach  that  subject  is  not  the  lecture  room  or 
the  laboratory,  but  the  garden  plot. 

It  is  said  that  the  first  art  a  barbarous  peo- 
ple develops  and  fosters  effectively  is  architec- 
ture. Shelter  is  a  primary  necessity,  so  the 
earliest  arts  and  trades  will  provide  shelters. 
For  the  worship  of  their  gods  all  people  try  to 
rear  imposing  structures.  The  American  people, 
if  we  study  them  all  across  the  continent,  seem 
to  mean  that  their  best  buildings  shall  be 
schoolhouses  and  libraries,  certainly  not  a  bad 
choice.  They  are  also  ready  to  pay  for  costly 
buildings  for  the  use  of  government,  national, 
state,  or  municipal,  each  citizen  having  some 
sense  of  individual  proprietorship  in  such  build- 
ings. If  we  could  always  get  in  our  public 
buildings  the  beauty  of  good  proportion  and  of 
pleasing  decoration,  what  an  addition  to  the 
every-day  enjoyment  of  the  population  would 

[   171  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


such  good  architecture  give.  To  pass  a  noble 
building  every  day  in  going  from  the  home  to 
the  workshop  makes  an  appreciable  addition  to 
the  satisfactions  of  the  citizen.  To  go  to  school 
in  a  house  well  designed  and  well  decorated 
gives  a  pleasure  to  the  pupils,  which  is  an  im- 
portant part  of  their  training.  To  live  in  a 
pretty  cottage  surrounded  by  a  pleasing  gar- 
den is  a  great  privilege  for  the  country-bred 
child.  The  boy  who  was  brought  up  in  a  New 
England  farmhouse,  overhung  by  stately  elms, 
approached  through  an  avenue  of  maples  or 
limes,  and  having  a  door  yard  hedged  about  with 
lilacs  will  carry  that  fair  picture  in  his  mind 
through  a  long  exile,  and  in  his  old  age  revisit 
it  with  delight.  In  regard  to  public  buildings, 
however,  it  is  all-important  that  they  should  be, 
not  only  noble  in  design  but  also  nobly  used  or 
occupied.  When  a  just  and  kindly  rich  man 
builds  a  handsome  palace  for  himself  and  his 
family,  his  lavish  expenditure  does  no  harm  to 
the  community,  but  on  the  contrary  provides 
it  with  a  beautiful  and  appropriate  object  of 
sympathetic  contemplation.  But  when  a 
knave  or  a  gambler  lives  in  a  palace,  the 
sight  of  his  luxury  and  splendor  may  work 
injury  to  the  lookers-on.  It  is  the  same  with 
regard  to  public  buildings.  Their  occupation 
or  use  must  be  noble,  like  that  of  a  Gothic 
cathedral.  They  must  harbor  honest  men,  not 


[    172  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


rogues.  They  must  be  used  to  promote  large 
public  interests,  and  must  be  instinct  with 
public  spirit. 

The  provision  of  public  museums  like  this 
beautiful  structure  whose  opening  we  com- 
memorate to-day  is  another  means  of  educating 
the  popular  sense  of  beauty.  By  casts,  prints, 
etchings,  and  photographs  a  good  collection 
trains  the  eyes  of  the  people  to  appreciate 
beauty  of  outline,  of  light  and  shade,  of  sym- 
metry and  proportion.  Vases  and  textile  fabrics 
supply  instruction  in  color,  luster,  and  texture. 
For  training  the  eye  to  the  appreciation  of 
beautiful  composition  in  color,  good  paintings 
are  necessary.  Examples  of  the  work  of  the 
greatest  masters  in  color  are,  of  course,  very 
difficult  to  obtain  for  exhibition  in  the  United 
States;  but  a  few  such  objects  in  otir  best  col- 
lections would  have  an  immeasurable  value. 
Unfortunately,  our  barbarous  legislation,  taxing 
imported  works  of  art,  piles  on  the  natural 
difficulties  of  our  situation  a  serious  artificial 
obstruction.  One  of  the  great  services  of  the 
Roman  Church  to  the  peoples  of  Europe  has 
been  the  free  exhibition,  as  altar  pieces  or  as 
chancel  and  sacristy  decorations,  of  many  of 
the  most  admirable  works  of  the  leading  paint- 
ers of  the  world.  The  favorite  subject  with  these 
great  painters  for  a  church  picture  —  the  Holy 
Family  —  offered  to  the  artist  a  large  variety 

[   173  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


of  human  figures  in  a  compact  group,  namely, 
a  mature  man,  a  young  mother,  a  baby,  and  a 
Saint  Catherine  or  a  Saint  John  the  Baptist, 
representing  so  many  interesting  stages  of 
human  Hfe,  with  all  the  appropriate  varieties  of 
facial  expression,  skin  coloring,  and  graceful 
garments,  the  whole  permeated  with  lofty  and 
holy  sentiment.  Such  pictures  the  Roman 
Church  kept  before  millions  of  its  worshipers 
for  hundreds  of  years.  The  modern  painter  has 
not  yet  seized  on  any  subject  of  such  supreme 
merit  and  universal  availability.  Since  the 
church  has  had  only  a  slight  aesthetic  function 
in  the  United  States,  public  collections  have  in 
America  even  greater  importance  than  they 
have   in  Europe. 

It  is  apparent  from  the  tremendous  influ- 
ence of  the  passion  of  love  that  beauty  in  man, 
woman,  and  child  must  yield  a  large  part  of 
the  available  material  for  developing  and  train- 
ing the  sense  of  beauty  in  the  masses  of  the 
population.  The  attraction  of  sex  becomes  effi- 
cient when  the  eye  is  delighted  by  the  color, 
form,  and  grace  of  the  beloved  object.  It  is 
through  the  eye  and  the  ear  chiefly  that  we  are 
susceptible  to  beauty  in  man,  woman,  or  child. 
The  lover's  senses  are  all  quickened  and  set  on 
fire,  and  his  vital  energies  are  magnified.  His 
fancy  and  his  power  of  attention  become 
lively  and  keen ;  and,  in  short,  all  his  vital  func- 

[   174  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


tions  are  made  healthier  and  stronger.  It  fol- 
lows from  this  almost  universal  experience 
that  the  enjoyment  of  beauty  accompanies  and 
announces  a  condition  of  health  and  vigor  in 
the  human  body  and  the  human  spirit,  and 
that  whatever  promotes  the  public  health,  or, 
in  other  words,  the  habitual  health  of  the  multi- 
tude, will  also  promote  the  development  of  the 
sense  of  beauty,  and  will  multiply  the  pleasur- 
able feelings  which  accompany  the  observation 
of  beauty.  Whatever  promotes  the  public  health 
tends,  therefore,  to  promote  that  public  hap- 
piness which  the  recognition  and  study  of  beauty 
is  fitted  to  procure  for  the  popular  masses. 

It  has  sometimes  been  maintained  that  love 
of  the  beautiful  is  an  effeminate  sentiment, 
which  may  fitly  accompany  delicacy,  tender- 
ness, and  refinement,  but  is  not  an  attribute  of 
manly  vigor  or  of  a  pioneering,  enterprising, 
and  martial  race.  On  one  Memorial  Day  not 
long  ago  I  was  watching  from  my  office  win- 
dow a  post  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic 
marching  slowly  to  wailing  music  toward  the 
graves  of  their  former  comrades  in  Mount 
Auburn  Cemetery,  which  they  were  about  to 
decorate  with  flowers.  The  friend  who  stood 
beside  me  said:  ''I  cannot  bear  to  hear  this 
music  or  see  these  flowers.  Both  are  beautiful, 
but  both  are  too  sentimental.  They  are  bad 
substitutes  for  the  stern,  unadorned  gravity 

[    175  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

and  resolution  of  our  Puritan  forefathers."  My 
friend  was  an  intense  patriot;  but  in  this  dis- 
like he  was  wrong.  The  love  of  the  beautiful  is 
not  inconsistent  with  reverence  for  honor,  jus- 
tice, and  faithfulness  unto  death.  Neither  is  it 
inconsistent  with  intense  energy,  and  keen  intel- 
lectual foresight  and  penetration,  or  with  the 
martial  virtues  of  courage,  self-sacrifice,  and 
tenacity.  If  we  need  a  demonstration  that  love 
of  the  beautiful  and  habitual  cultivation  of  the 
beautiful  are  not  inconsistent  with  the  simul- 
taneous possession  of  the  most  effective  and 
robust  himian  qualities,  we  may  find  it  in  the 
extraordinary  artistic  qualities  of  the  Japanese 
as  a  race;  qualities  they  exhibit  in  conjunction 
with  great  industrial  efficiency,  remarkable 
sanitary  wisdom,  and  an  unparalleled  energy 
and  devotion  in  war.  The  interest  of  the 
Japanese  in  flowers,  gardens,  and  groves,  and 
their  skill  in  producing  the  most  admirable  vari- 
eties of  fine  work  in  metals,  pottery,  and  textile 
fabrics  have  been  the  wonder  of  the  Western 
world.  Even  the  arrangement  of  cut  flowers 
is  for  them  a  high  art;  a  garden  or  a  grove 
is  almost  a  sacred  place;  and  the  production 
of  a  single  beautiful  porcelain  or  bronze  vase 
or  bowl  is  an  adequate  reward  for  months 
of  labor.  This  devotion  to  the  production  of  the 
beautiful  is  absolutely  consistent  with  the  pos- 
session by  the  same  race  of  the  qualities  which 

[   176  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


we  commonly  distinguish  by  such  words  as 
manly,  sturdy,  and  heroic.  We  ought  not  to  be 
surprised  at  this  union  of  attributes.  We  ought 
never  to  have  imagined  that  the  sense  of  beauty 
harmonized  only  with  softness,  fineness,  or 
frailty  in  the  human  being.  The  fact  is  that 
many  beautiful  objects  are  coarse,  rough,  stern, 
or  fierce,  like  the  sea,  the  thunderstorm,  or  the 
bare  mountain  crag.  Beauty  often  results 
chiefly  from  fitness;  indeed,  it  is  easy  to  main- 
tain that  nothing  is  fair  except  what  is  fit  for 
its  uses  or  functions.  If  the  function  or  the 
product  of  a  machine  be  useful  and  valuable, 
and  the  machine  be  eminently  fit  for  its  work, 
beauty  will  be  discernible  in  the  machine.  An 
American  ax  is  eminently  fit  for  its  function, 
and  it  conspicuously  has  the  beauty  of  fitness. 
A  locomotive  or  a  steamship  has  the  same  sort 
of  beauty,  derived  from  its  supreme  fitness  for 
its  function.  As  functions  vary,  so  will  those 
beauties  which  depend  on  fitness  for  functions 
vary,  from  the  exquisite  delicacy  of  the  nar- 
cissus to  the  sturdy  vigor  of  the  oak.  In  culti- 
vating the  love  of  the  beautiful  we  shall  also 
cultivate  the  love  and  appreciation  of  the  fit. 

The  best  place  to  inculcate  the  love  of  the 
beautiful  is  the  schoolroom.  To  the  rising  gen- 
eration the  most  effective  lessons  can  be  given 
and  from  the  school  millions  of  children  will 
carry  the  lessons  to  millions  of  homes.  After 

[   177  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


reading,  spelling,  writing,  and  ciphering  with 
small  numbers  and  in  simple  operations,  draw- 
ing should  be  the  most  important  common- 
school  subject.  All  children  should  learn  how 
lines,  straight  and  curved,  and  lights  and  shades 
form  pictures  and  may  be  made  to  express 
symmetry  and  beauty.  All  children  should  ac- 
quire by  use  of  the  pencil  and  brush  power  of 
observation  and  exactness  in  copying  and 
should  learn  through  their  own  work  what  the 
elements  of  beauty  are.  It  is  monstrous  that  the 
common  school  should  give  much  time  to  com- 
pound numbers,  bank  discount,  and  stenog- 
raphy and  little  time  to  drawing.  It  is  mon- 
strous that  the  school  which  prepares  for  college 
should  give  four  or  five  hours  a  week  for  two 
years  to  Greek  and  no  time  at  all  to  drawing. 
The  main  object  in  every  school  should  be,  not 
to  provide  the  children  with  means  of  earning 
a  livelihood,  but  to  show  them  how  to  live  a 
happy  and  worthy  life,  inspired  by  ideals  which 
exalt  and  dignify  both  labor  and  leisure.  To  see 
beauty  and  to  live  it  is  to  possess  large  securi- 
ties for  such  a  life. 

In  diffusing  among  the  American  population 
knowledge  and  appreciation  of  the  fine  arts 
we  shall  also  diffuse  the  artistic  sentiment 
about  labor.  The  artist  is  always  working  with 
mingled  gladness  and  disappointment  toward 
an  ideal  he  never  attains.  It  is  his  struggle 

[    178  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


toward  that  ideal  which  makes  his  Hfe  a  happy 
one.  That  is  the  spirit  in  which  all  the  work  of 
the  community  should  be  done.  Everybody 
should  be  trying  to  realize  perfection  in  his  art 
or  trade  or  daily  work.  Toward  that  idealiza- 
tion of  daily  life  the  love  of  the  beautiful  leads 
us,  and  the  road  which  connects  the  love  of  the 
beautiful  with  the  love  of  the  good  is  short  and 
smooth.  When,  therefore,  the  citizens  of  Buf- 
falo assemble  in  this  beautiful  park  to  dedicate 
this  beautiful  building  and  its  collections  to  the 
public  service,  they  are  commending  to  the 
rest  of  the  nation  a  high  example  of  private 
beneficence  which  will  promote,  in  a  wise  and 
sound  way,  democratic  happiness.  >' 

President  Eliot's  address  was  delivered  in  a 
clear,  ringing  voice  and  was  listened  to  most 
attentively.  At  its  conclusion  the  Chorus  sang 
the  following  Ode,  written  by  Mr.  Arthur  Det- 
mers  of  Buffalo,  and  the  music  for  which  was 
composed  by  Professor  Horatio  Parker  of  Yale 
University.  Professor  Parker  conducted  the 
singing. 

[    179  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


SPIRIT    OF  BEAUTY 
O  SPLENDOR  of  the  far-off  days 

Forever  gone ! 
Still  through  the  darkened  maze 

Of  years  we  wander  on, 
Haunted  by  visions  of  an  elder  time 
When  glory  crowned  the  Orient  hills 
And  great  Apollo  laughed 
As  the  purple  sea  he  quaffed, 
And  the  nymphs  by  hidden  rills 
Leaped  and  danced, 
And  the  silver  arrows  glanced 
From  the  Huntress'  bow  sublime ; 
While  from  storied  heights,  far  shining 

In  Olympian  repose. 
Human  thought  God's  thought  "^divining, 

The  perfect  temples  rose. 
O  deathless  splendor  of  the  Attic  prime ! 
Spirit  of  Beauty,  free  of  old, 
Eternal  youth  is  thine ;  no  prison  hold 
Hath  ever  fast  confined  thee. 
No  earthly  chain  can  bind  thee : 
Lo,  thou  wilt  bring  again  the  age  of  gold ! 

Slowly,  slowly  through  the  night, 
Led  by  death  the  host  moves  on. 

Endless  tumult,  toil  and  fight, 

Hopeless  yearning  for  the  light. 
Loss  the  prize  in  triumphs  won, 
Endless  sleep  when  all  is  done. 

O  the  bitter  waste  and  pain ! 

To  Death  only  comes  the  gain. 
One  long  smothered  cry  is  all 
Scarce  remembered  years  recall. 


[    180  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Nay,  not  so,  'tis  only  seeming ! 
Even  now  behold,  a  gleaming ! 

Even  now  thy  garments  trail, 
Spirit,  on  the  shrouded  mountains ! 
From  the  everlasting  fountains 

Light  is  streaming  o'er  the  vale ! 

Yea,  by  all  the  discords  harsh  of  life 

The  music  of  the  world  is  never  hushed. 
Upon  the  woeful  strife 

Of  souls  pain-scarred  and  crushed 
The  sweet  calm  face  of  nature  smiles. 

O  beckoning  hands, 

O  voices  in  the  wilderness, 

Ye  heavenly  bands 
That  cheer  and  bless, 

Spirit  of  Beauty  near  us  yet, 

Though  we  like  aliens  wandering  in  far  lands 
O'er  wasted  miles 

Thy  loveliness  too  oft  forget ! 
From  age  to  age  thy  mountains  call  us. 
Thy  radiant  dawns  and  sunset  lights  enthrall  us, 

Thy  handmaid  stars  attend  us, 

Thy  trees  and  flowers  befriend  us, 
Thy  mighty  waters  will  not  let  us  be, 
Thine  errant  winds  still  set  our  spirits  free. 

Not  unto  us,  not  unto  us  the  praise, 

O  Spirit  Guide ! 
Thou  who  from  the  broken  past  dost  raise 

What  shall  abide, 
Here  amid  the  transitory 

Sway  and  stress  of  man's  estate, 

In  thy  great  name  we  dedicate 

[   181  1 

y 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


An'altar  to  thy  glory. 
May  it  lift  the  souls  of  men 
Out  of  lethal  marsh  and  fen 
To  that  far  eternal  height 
Crowned  with  light, 
Immune  from  time, 
Where,  nearer  God,  the  soul  may  learn 

The  beauty  and  the  joy  sublime 
For  which  man  ne'er  doth  cease  to  yearn. 

Professor  Parker's  music  was  admirably 
fitted  to  the  Ode,  and,  under  his  direction,  was 
sung  with  impressive  effect.  In  the  space  at 
command  it  is  impossible  to  present  any  an- 
alysis of  the  music  or  even  specifically  refer  to 
its  particularly  appropriate  and  effective  pas- 
sages. The  Chorus  was  well  trained,  and,  sus- 
tained by  an  instrumental  accompaniment, 
carried  well. 

Mr.  Richard  Watson  Gilder  next  being  intro- 
duced, read  the  Dedicatory  Poem,  Temple 
of  Art."  The  poem  follows: 

A    TEMPLE    OF  ART 
I 

Slowly  to  the  day  the  rose. 

The  moon-flower  suddenly  to  the  night, 

Their  mysteries  of  light 

In  innocence  unclose. 

[   182  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


II 

In  this  garden  of  delight, 

This  pillared  temple,  pure  and  white. 

We  plant  the  seed  of  art, 

With  mystic  power 

To  bring,  or  sudden  or  slow,  the  perfect  flower, 

That  cheers  and  comforts  the  sad  human  heart ; 

That  brings  to  man  high  thought 

From  starry  region  caught. 

And  sweet,  unconscious  nobleness  of  deed ; 

So  he  may  never  lose  his  childhood's  joyful  creed, 

Though  years  and  sorrows  to  sorrows  and  years  succeed. 

Ill 

Though  thick  the  cloud  that  hides  the  unseen  life 

Before  we  were  and  after  we  shall  be, 

Here  in  this  fragment  of  eternity; 

And  heavy  is  the  burden  and  the  strife  — 

The  universe,  we  know,  in  beauty  had  its  birth ; 

The  day  in  beauty  dawns,  in  beauty  dies, 

With  intense  color  of  the  sea  and  skies ; 

And  life,  for  all  its  rapine,  with  beauty  floods  the  earth. 

Lovely  the  birds,  and  their  true  song. 

Amid  the  murmurous  leaves  the  summer  long, 

Whate'er  the  baffling  power 

Sent  anger  and  earthquake  and  a  thousand  ills, — 
It  made  the  violet  flower. 

And  the  wide  world  with  breathless  beauty  thrills. 

IV 

Who  built  the  world  made  man 
With  power  to  build  and  plan, 
A  soul  all  loveliness  to  love, — 
Blossom  below  and  lucent  blue  above, — 
And  new  unending  beauty  to  contrive. 

[   183  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


He,  the  creature,  may  not  make 

Beautiful  beings  all  alive, — 

Irised  moth  nor  mottled  snake. 

The  lily's  splendor, 

The  light  of  glances  infinitely  tender. 

Nor  the  day's  dying  glow  nor  flush  of  morn, — 

And  yet  his  handiwork  the  angels  shall  not  scorn. 

When  he  hath  wrought  in  truth  and  by  heaven's  law, — 

In  lowliness  and  awe. 

Bravely  shall  he  labor,  while  from  his  pure  hands 
Spring  fresh  wonders,  spread  new  lands ; 
Son  of  God,  no  longer  child  of  fate, 
Like  God  he  shall  create. 

V 

When,  weary  ages  hence,  the  wrong  world  is  set  right; 

When  brotherhood  is  real 

And  all  that  justice  can  for  man  is  done, 

When  the  fair,  fleeting,  anguished-for  ideal 

Turns  actual  at  last ;  and  'neath  the  sun 

Man  hath  no  human  foe ; 

And  even  the  brazen  sky,  and  storms  that  blow, 

And  all  the  elements  have  friendlier  proved, — 

By  human  wit  to  human  uses  moved, — 

Ah,  still  shall  Art  endure. 

And  beauty's  light  and  lure, 

To  keep  man  noble,  and  make  life  delight, 

Though  shadows  backward  fall  from  the  engulfing  night. 

VI 

In  a  world  of  little  aims. 
Sordid  hopes  and  futile  fames. 
Spirit  of  Beauty !  high  thy  place 
In  the  fashioning  of  the  race. 
In  this  temple,  built  to  thee, 

[    184  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


We,  thy  worshipers,  would  be, 

Lifting  up,  all  undefiled, 

Hearts  as  lowly  as  a  child ; 

Humble  to  be  taught  and  led 

And  on  celestial  manna  fed ; 

So  to  take  into  our  lives 

Something  that  from  heaven  derives. 

The  ceremonies  were  concluded  with  the 
following  hymn,  written  by  Mr.  Philip  Becker 
Goetz,  of  Buffalo,  and  sung  by  the  Chorus  to 
the  music  of  Kremser's  Dankgebet." 

HYMN    BY    PHILIP    BECKER  GOETZ 
The  voices  of  seers  are  not  born  of  the  trumpet, 

Their  vision  is  raised  to  a  flag  that  is  furled ; 
They  ever  are  dreamers  in  beauty  ensphered 

And  calmly  they  dower  the  wide,  yearning  world. 

Their  hands  are  not  sanguine  with  blossom  of  battle : 
They  charm  into  life  the  white  soul  of  the  stone, 

They  find  and  imprison  the  secrets  of  sunlight. 

They  make  the  world  kneel  in  their  temples  of  tone. 

Oh  these  be  the  brows  that  we  hallow  with  homage 
And  crown  with  our  garlands  of  fresh- wreathed  song : 

Unknown  or  renowned  hail  them  equally  victors, 
With  thanks  unto  God  for  that  glorious  throng. 


[    185  ] 


POEMS 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 
{Dedicatory  Poem,  December  23,  1862) 
Troops  of  angels  swell  our  number  as  we  throng  this 
classic  place, 

Though  we  hear  no  white  wings  rustle,  though  we  see 
no  shining  face. 

While  we  dedicate  this  temple  they  are  with  us  and 
around  us  — 

With  an  amaranthine  cestus  they  have  girded  and  have 
bound  us. 

From  the  classic  scenes  of  Athens  these  attendant 
spirits  come. 

From  the  sunny  haunts  of  Florence  and  the  solemn  hills 
of  Rome. 

From  the  tomb  of  great  Apelles,  where  the  roses  ever 
blow, 

From  the  sepulchre  of  Rubens  and  the  grave  of  Angelo. 

Lo !  our  hands  have  built  an  altar,  built  it  strong  and 
built  it  well, 

And  the  angels  wait  to  crown  it  with  immortal  aspho- 
del. 

Every  basal  stone  is  granite,  squarely  cut,  cemented 
fast  — 

We  have  laid  a  firm  foundation,  for  we  build  the  shrine 
to  last. 

All  the  rest  is  choicest  marble,  free  from  spot  and  stain 
and  flaw 

As  the  tablets  where  Jehovah  wrote  the  precepts  of  His 
law. 

[   189  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

On  the  top  there  burns  a  censer  which  with  rarest  gums 

is  freighted  — 
While  we  smell  the  glorious  incense  we  are  ravished  and 

elated. 

Let  this  temple  and  this  altar  evermore  be  set  apart 
To  the  uses  and  the  service  and  the  high  designs  of 
ART! 

Art,  the  only  true  Pactolus  which  has  ever  flashed  and 
rolled, 

That  encrusts  our  leaden  fancies  with  a  shining  shell  of 
gold. 

Art,  that  renders  death  a  fable,  by  its  magic  power  to 
save  — 

We  possess  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  not  the  centuries,  not 
the  grave. 

Are  the  heroes  whom  we  worship  less  alive,  this  winter 
night, 

Than  when  they  bravely  conquered  in  the  stern  and 
sturdy  fight  ? 

Art,  that  wooes  its  mistress.  Nature,  with  a  love  that 
never  tires. 

Never  faints  and  never  falters,  ever  urges  and  aspires  — 

That  repeats  the  myriad  broideries  which  her  cunning 
fingers  trace 

And  the  ever  sweet  expressions  of  her  ever-changing  face. 

Art,  that  treasures  up  for  Winter  all  the  richest  blooms 
of  Spring ; 

Art,  that  lifts  the  low-born  peasant  to  the  level  of  the 
king. 

[    190  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

Art,  that  hews  from  stolid  marble  forms  we  worship  and 
extol, 

Wanting  naught  to  make  them  human  but  the  presence 
of  a  soul. 

"One  thing  lacks  thy  statue,  comrade;"  so  the  king  of 

sculptors  spoke, 
And  the  dream  of  Donatello,  like  a  dainty  fleece-cloud, 

broke ! 

"Tell  me,"  was  the  mournful  answer,  "what  it  is  evades 
my  reach  " — 

"Only  this,  my  Donatello;  thou  hast  failed  to  give  it 
speech ! ' ' 

Who  shall  censure  fond  Pygmalion,  in  the  forum  of  his 
thought, 

That  his  heart  became  enamored  of  the  shape  his  hands 
had  wrought  ? 

Art,  that  shows  us  gracious  Homer,  just  as  when  he 

lived  and  sang. 
And  the  Juno  with  whose  praises  all  his  wondrous  story 

rang. 

Art,  that  makes  the  face  of  Jesus  plain  as  morning  to 
the  sight. 

With  its  martyr  crown  of  passion  and  its  triumph  crown 
of  Hght. 

Art,  that  raises  and  ennobles.  Art,  that  surely  will  refine 
Every  nature  that  it  touches  by  its  ministries  divine. 

Meet  it  is  we  rear  a  temple  to  a  goddess  such  as  she. 
With  the  large  and  liberal  purpose  that  its  blessings 
shall  be  free. 

[   191  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Meet  it  is  we  build  an  altar,  and,  in  letters  rainbow  fair. 
Weave  her  name  and  fame  and  glory  in  a  deathless 
legend  there. 

There  are  thousands  who  will  bless  us  for  the  work  we 
thus  perform, 

When  we  see  no  more  the  sunshine,  when  we  hear  no 
more  the  storm. 

Take,  O  Art !  this  goodly  temple  which  thy  presence  now 
invites, 

Gather  here  thy  priests  and  prophets,  here  conduct  thy 
mystic  rites. 

Take,  0  Art !  this  goodly  altar,  it  is  all  and  wholly  thine. 
Offer  here  thy  best  libations,  fragrant  oil  and  fruity 
wine. 

Here  preserve  the  precious  treasures  of  the  old  forgotten 
days 

Fresh  as  newly-opened  lilies,  or  a  poet's  latest  lays. 

Seize  the  mad  wheels  of  the  present,  bid  the  frantic 
Jehu  wait 

Till  thy  hand  has  sketched  the  chariot,  with  its  tenants 
and  its  freight. 

Keep  the  troubled  nation's  records  in  thy  skilled  and 
perfect  way ; 

Trace  the  shiftings  of  the  conflict  that  is  raging  hard 
to-day. 

If  the  rest  must  needs  be  somber,  give  the  sky  a  cheerful 
hue. 

Show  us,  there,  the  blended  wonders  of  the  red  and 
white  and  blue. 


[   192  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


When  the  cruel  war  is  over,  never  more  to  be  renewed, 
And  the  doves  of  peace  are  flocking  to  the  cotes  where 
once  they  cooed  — 

Then  thy  brightest  colors  gather  and  thy  proudest  epic 
frame 

On  a  nation  raised  to  glory  through  the  carnage  and 
the  flame. 

Thus  we  dedicate  this  temple,  thus  this  altar  set  apart, 
To  the  uses  and  the  service  and  the  high  designs  of  ART. 

Anson  G.  Chester. 


THE    MINISTRY    OF  ART 
1864 

The  winter  night  is  dark ;  the  wild  wind  falls 

Asleep  in  snow,  and,  sleeping,  moans  the  while ; 
But  Art  is  mistress  here,  and,  lo,  her  halls 
Are  lit  with  summer's  smile ! 

And  darker  night  has  draped  the  land  in  gloom, 
And  wilder  wind,  that  will  not  sleep  nor  cease. 
Beats  over  broken  homes ;  but  here,  in  bloom, 
Droop  only  wreaths  of  peace. 

No  shadows  enter  here ;  and,  Art,  divine. 

We  greet  thee,  though  the  iron  hand  of  war 
Knocks  at  our  gates ;  to-night  is  ours  and  thine. 
Bright  pilgrim  from  afar ! 

The  bark  was  blest  that  bore  thee  o'er  the  sea, 

From  sunny  Italy,  from  golden  Spain, — 
From  many  a  temple  builded  brave  to  thee 
By  Arno,  Thames,  or  Seine. 


[    193  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


The  time  had  come,  and  thou  didst  take  thy  way- 
Through  portals  that  the  sunset  left  ajar, 
And  all  thy  new-found  empire,  waiting,  lay 
Beneath  the  Western  Star. 

So,  here,  thy  broadest  canvas  be  unfurled, — 

Thy  fairest  dreams,  O  magic  Art,  be  bom, — 
To  limn  the  features  of  the  younger  world, 
Ruddy  with  hope  and  morn ! 

We  greet  thee,  here,  we  crave  thy  kindly  powers ; 

For,  as  the  olden  forest's  green  retreats 
Have  sunk,  with  all  their  freshness  and  their  flowers. 
Beneath  the  city's  streets, — 

So  is  the  freshness  of  our  life  down-trod ; 

So  its  sweet  nooks  a  dusty  highway  made ; 
And,  reckless,  over  Memory's  greenest  sod. 
Hurry  the  feet  of  Trade. 

Gone  is  the  hush  wherein  our  spirits  gave 
Memnonian  music  to  the  stars  and  sun ; 
Over  our  thought's  serenest,  clearest  wave 
The  wheels  of  traffic  run. 

'T  is  thine,  O  Priestess  of  the  Beautiful, 

To  bring  again  the  joys  our  hearts  have  lost. 
And  even  the  windows  of  life's  winter  paint 
With  pictures  of  the  frost ! 

Thy  spells  are  potent ;  these  are  magic  halls ; 

Enchantress,  thou,  whose  pencil  is  thy  wand ! 
Radiant,  and  far  from  all  these  pictured  walls. 
Opens  a  faery  land. 


[    194  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


As  through  the  gate  of  some  enchanted  palace, 

We  wander  forth,  beneath  divinest  skies ; 
And  there  are  windless  woods  and  silent  valleys, 
Where  summer  never  dies. 

Away,  away,  where  soundless  streams  are  falling, 

Where  Fancy's  sweet  will,  only,  points  the  track, 
Until,  at  last,  her  vagrant  steps  recalling, 
The  soul  comes  singing  back ! 

Or,  haply,  to  some  Alpine  summit  scaling, 

We  see  the  vale  beneath  us,  blue  and  blest, 
As  he  who  spies,  o'er  heights  of  pain  prevailing, 
His  Italy  of  rest. 

Or,  in  a  barque  of  dreams  the  soul  is  drifted 

Athwart  a  sea  where  summer  sleeps  and  smiles ; 
Above  whose  verge  the  purple  mists  are  lifted 
That  fringe  the  Golden  Isles. 

There  may  we  meet  our  vanished  Youth's  romances; 

There  pluck  the  lotus,  in  its  fruit  or  bloom, 
By  Lethean  streams,  where  never  face  but  Fancy's, 
Has  bent  above  their  gloom. 

Or,  haply  yet,  we  walk  with  hushed  October, 

Where  the  year  fades,  and,  queenly,  as  she  lies. 
Stills  the  mute  winds  that  tarry  to  disrobe  her. 
And  smiles  before  she  dies. 

Anon,  it  is  a  scene  in  human  story. 

Where  Freedom's  sons  upheld  her  ancient  faith ; 
Or  some  immortal  face  is  lit  with  glory, 
Even  as  it  looks  on  death ; 


[   195  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Or  the  calm  eyes  of  some  fair  saint  are  looking 

Down,  through  the  gloom  of  centuries,  into  ours, 
With  the  white  patience  of  her  brow  rebuking 
Our  puny  griefs  and  powers. 

These  are  thy  spells ;  and  thus,  O  subtle  Art, 

Thy  magic  colors,  like  the  mystic  seven, 
Melt  into  one  pure  ray,  that  points  the  heart 
To  beauty, —  thence  to  heaven ! 

So,  still,  to  men  reveal  the  Beautiful, — 

The  Beautiful,  sole  angel  whom  our  eyes 
Have  held  the  gift  to  see,  since,  dimmed  and  dull, 
They  turned  from  Paradise. 

For,  when  the  gates  of  Eden  closed  in  wrath, 

She,  only,  of  the  angel  host,  had  leave 
To  pity  man,  and  on  his  barren  path 
Glide  forth,  a  fairer  Eve ! 

So,  ever,  in  the  loveliest  spots  of  earth, 

He  caught  the  glitter  of  her  silver  wing ; 
And  when  his  sweetest  music  chanced  to  birth. 
Her  finger  touched  the  string. 

And,  still,  with  glimpses  of  her  heavenly  face. 

With  dreams,  whereof  the  waking  is  sweet  tears, 
With  thoughts  that  never  on  the  lips  have  place. 
Nor  come,  save  once,  in  years, — 

With  these  —  with  all  that  makes  us  thrill  or  burn, — 

Still  does  she  haunt  the  heart  and  light  the  eyes, 
Till,  with  a  longing,  wild  desire,  we  yearn 
For  the  lost  Paradise. 


[   196  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


So,  still,  O  Art,  we  follow  where  thy  wand 

Points  to  the  path  the  Beautiful  hath  trod; 
For  Art  joins  hands  with  Beauty, —  Beauty's  hand 
Touches  the  throne  of  God ! 

David  Gray. 


THE    ECHO    OF    THE  BEAUTIFUL 
1865 

What  shall  we  name  thee,  glorious  Art, 
As,  gathering  at  this  chosen  shrine. 

We  consecrate  these  walls  to  thee 

And  make  this  waiting  temple  thine  ? 

A  radiant  goddess  thee  we  hail, 
Mature  and  perfect  at  thy  birth, 

Child  of  a  nobler  brain  than  Jove's, 
The  new  Minerva  of  the  earth. 

O,  sweet  to  see  thy  beaming  face 
When  sorrow  bids  the  spirit  grieve, 

And  even  joy  without  thy  smile 
Were  Paradise  without  its  Eve. 

An  angel,  thou,  with  starry  glance. 
With  golden  hair,  coiled  like  a  crown. 

Shedding  its  glory  on  thy  brow 
And  melting  every  shadow  down. 

Whate'er  of  beauty  haunts  our  dreams, 
Bedecks  the  earth,  or  paints  the  sky, 

'Tis  thine,  with  more  than  magic  power, 
To  bring  before  the  wondering  eye. 


[   197  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


To  reproduce  each  glowing  scene 

In  summer's  landscapes,  when  the  air 

Is  fragrant  with  the  breath  of  flowers, 
And  loveliness  is  everywhere. 

When  white-winged  snowflakes  thickly  fly, 
And  all  the  earth  is  mailed  in  ice, 

'Tis  thine  to  mock  the  winter's  face 
With  mimic  touch  and  rare  device. 

When  tempests  rage,  and  billows  heave, 
And  lightnings  flash  upon  the  sea, 

Thou  walkest  on  the  angry  waves. 
As  Jesus  walked  on  Galilee : 

Not  thus  to  lull  the  waves  to  rest. 
And  hush  the  tempest's  fitful  wail, 

But,  by  thy  strange  and  subtle  power. 
To  catch  the  spirit  of  the  gale. 

Niagara's  torrent  rushes  down 

The  canvas  at  thy  bold  command, 

And  other  eyes  than  ours  behold 
The  proudest  wonder  of  the  land. 

Thy  hand  unlocks  the  pyramids 
Built  by  Jehovah,  wondrous  Art, 

And  lo !  we  hold  within  our  grasp 
The  treasures  of  the  Andes'  heart. 

We  see  the  power  of  ancient  Faith, 
His  mountains  move  at  thy  behest. 

The  rocky  steeps  advance  in  troops 
Across  the  prairies  of  the  West. 


[    198  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Thou  stretchest  forth  thy  wizard  wand 
O'er  teeming  plain  and  barren  sea, 

And  lo !  before  our  gaze  appears 
The  sun-bathed  peak  of  Laramie. 

The  monarch  stag  affrighted  flies, 

As  sounds  the  hunter's  thrilHng  blast, 

His  steps  thy  gentle  voice  arrests 
And,  like  a  statue,  holds  him  fast. 

The  face  made  fair  by  love  alone  — 

The  face  whose  charms  entrance  the  eye  — 

Alike  beneath  thy  gracious  touch 
Are  clothed  with  immortality. 

The  senseless  stone  responds  to  thee  — 
A  living  thing  the  marble  seems  — 

When,  at  the  promptings  of  thy  voice, 
The  sculptor  shapes  his  secret  dreams. 

The  reveries,  like  a  golden  mist. 
That  steal  upon  the  artist's  mind, 

As,  fancy-free,  he  soars  aloft 

And  leaves  this  common  world  behind. 

When  beauty  quits  her  secret  shrine 
And  bursts  upon  his  raptured  sight, 

Reveals  the  rarest  of  her  charms 
And  fills  his  being  with  delight. 

Thine  is  the  power  alone,  O  Art, 

To  bid  them  evermore  remain, 
To  hinder  in  their  rapid  flight 

These  thronging  angels  of  the  brain. 


[    199  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


When  black  Disaster  rears  its  loom 

Around  the  elemental  strife, 
And  mingles  with  its  sable  warp 

The  ruddy  woof  of  precious  life  — 

Then  gently  touch  our  mangled  dead, 
Restore  again  their  wasted  bloom, 

And  bring  the  features  that  we  loved 
Back  from  the  darkness  of  the  tomb. 

The  slain  in  battle,  bid  them  live, 

Though  counted  with  the  martyred  dead ; 

The  graves  are  honored  where  they  sleep, 
The  soil  is  hallowed  where  they  bled. 

What  shall  we  name  thee,  then,  to  mark 
Thy  present  coming,  peerless  Art  ? 

How  syllable  the  mystic  spell 

Thou  breathest  on  the  raptured  heart  ? 

The  legend  haunts  my  brain  to-night. 
Which  mythic  chronicles  relate  — 

The  tale  of  Dian's  sudden  wrath. 
And  babbling  Echo's  mournful  fate. 

O,  sister  Echo,  men  may  read 

A  better  life  and  lot  than  hers 
Upon  the  palms  thou  stretchest  forth 

To  bless  thy  myriad  worshipers. 

No  need  of  consecrated  priest, 

With  fragrant  chrism  and  snowy  stole ; 

With  thy  new  name  we  christen  thee  — 
The  echo  of  the  beautiful! 

Albert  T.  Chester. 


[  200  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

AURORA 
1866 

In  the  old  discrowned  city,  girt  by  Tiber's  sluggish 
flood  — 

Gaunt  with  spectres  of  the  ages,  scarred  with  fire,  and 

dank  with  blood  — 
Where  the  daily  feet  of  labor  presses  down  imperial 

graves, 

And  the  nations,  steeped  in  wonder,  grope  among  the 
ashen  waves ; 

In  the  sad,  discrowned  city,  smiles  a  vision  of  the  morn, 
Radiant  with  ethereal  beauty,  of  immortal  genius  born. 
High  above  the  dusky  valleys  floats  the  rosy  queen  of  day, 
Flinging  eastward  dewy  garlands,  as  she  speeds  her  airy 
way. 

Close  behind  the  steeds  of  Eos  backward  turn  the 

breeze's  flight; 
And  the  Hours,  in  gleeful  chorus,  dance  upon  the  verge 

of  night. 

Far  below,  the  drowsy  cities  wake  to  toil  or  wake  to  pain ; 
Or  the  tardy  steps  of  peasant  fieldward  urge  the  lum- 
bering wain. 

Fleets  upon  the  whitening  waters,  workmen  by  the  busy 
shore, 

All  astir  with  early  freshness,  con  the  task  of  labor  o'er. 
Morn,  upon  the  purple  mountains,  lightens  downcast 

want  and  moil. 
But  to  upturned  gaze,  a  goddess  glorifies  this  world  of 

toil. 

Eyes,  unsealed  by  inspiration,  still  behold  the  laughing 
Hours, 

Ever  catch  the  rosy  footprints,  evermore  the  dropping 
flowers. 


[  201  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Shapes  of  beauty  haunt  the  woodlands  where  the  foot 

of  Art  hath  trod ; 
Nestle  by  the  secret  fountains,  spring  from  the  enameled 

sod; 

Hover  by  the  common  pathways,  whisper  in  the  viewless 
air; 

And  the  lips  of  the  Celestials  touch  the  wrinkled  brow 
of  Care. 

O  Immortals!  must  the  Orient  ever  stay  your  charmed 
feet? 

Nymph  and  Goddess,  Faun  and  Dryad  hither  seek  no 
new  retreat  ? 

Haste!  The  broad  blue  arch,  uprising  over  lo's  storied 
sea, 

Sinks  on  lonely,  virgin  valleys,  beautiful  as  Thessaly. 
Nature,  in  unconscious  idlesse,  waits  her  hour  of  waking 
bliss, 

Couched  beneath  the  star  of  evening  —  Psyche  of  the 
wilderness. 

Field  and  wood  and  broad  savannah,  solemn  hills  and 

mountain  streams, 
Echoless,  await  your  voices,  lapt  in  sleep,  without  its 

dreams ; 

And  the  steadfast  gaze  of  labor  seeks  no  radiance  in 
the  skies  — 

Haste!  And  on  our  fair  Hesperia  bid  Art's  lingering 
morn  arise. 

Lo,  the  dawning!  See!  Aurora  hovers  in  her  westering 
flight, 

Blushing  with  the  kiss  of  Ocean,  dewy  with  the  tears  of 
Night; 

Softly  veiled  in  clouds  of  silver,  gives  her  fiery  coursers 
rein; 

[   202  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

Bending  through  the  starry  shadows,  smiles  upon  the 

wakening  plain, 
Where,  below  our  fair  young  city  bares  her  bosom  to 

the  day  — 

Crowded  mart  and  teeming  storehouse  cluster  by  the 
busy  bay. 

Click  of  axe  and  clank  of  hammer,  groan  of  forge  and 

whirr  of  wheel, 
Clattering  hoofs  and  hurrying  footsteps  through  the 

softening  distance  steal. 
White-winged  messengers  of  traffic  dance  upon  our 

mimic  main ; 

Freights  of   autumn   moor  at  anchor  —  argosies  of 
amber  grain. 

Trailing  down  our  slow  Pactolus,  shallops  sweep  and 
barges  slide ; 

While  beyond,  the  mighty  current  headlong  pours  its 
muffled  tide. 

Faint,  afar,  the  dying  echoes,  born  of  steel  and  martial 
tread. 

Blend  with  wailings  from  the  zephyrs  that  o'ersweep  a 
nation's  dead. 

Hail  fair  daughter  of  the  Dawning!  Herald  of  the  gor- 
geous Day ! 

Crowning  with  thy  fragrant  garlands  earthly  toil  and 
din  and  fray ; 

Wafting  on  the  breezy  pinion  scents  from  Capri's  odor- 
ous gale, 

Snowy  airs  from  Alpine  billows,  sighs  from  Norseland's 

slumberous  vale ; 
Showering  tints  on  cliff  and  ocean,  caught  from  Tithon's 

saffron  pall ; 

Leading  bronzed  Forest- Warriors  captive  in  thy  gracious 
thrall ; 

[    203  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 

Gems  from  India's  pearly  caverns,  hazy  glows  from 
Persian  skies, 

Sheen  of  moonbeams,  gleams  of  waters,  shimmer  in  thy 

mantle's  dyes. 
Still,  above  our  dusty  pathways,  linger  with  thy  joyful 

train ! 

Wooing  upward  sleepless  eyelids,  heavy  with  the  tears 
of  pain ; 

Calming  here  "life's  fitful  fever,"  soothing  passion's 
fierce  unrest ; 

Filling  with  immortal  visions  all  the  chambers  of  the 
West. 

Linger  —  while  we  throng  thy  temple  —  at  thy  feet 

our  garlands  lay  — 
Kiss  thy  robe,  O  fair  Aurora,  Dawn  of  Art's  eternal  Day ! 

Mrs.  E.  a.  Forbes. 


ART  IMMORTAL 
1867 
I 

Dawn  thou  on  our  lifted  vision.  Spirit  of  divinest  Art ! 
Wraith  of  some  celestial  Summer,  bid  thy  sphere-lit 
glories  start ; 

Feed  with  warmth  our  mossy  valleys,  bid  the  drifting 
clouds  divide, 

Strew  the  lakes  with  new-blown  lilies,  on  the  fir-clad 
hills  abide ! 

Trembling,  fearing,  doubting  ever,  toiling  up  through 

wastes  of  snow. 
By  thy  light  our  height  we  measure  —  if  we  near  the 

skies  or  no. 


[   204  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Breathe  through  all  our  raptured  senses,  Spirit  fair  of 
Art  divine !  — 

Winged  and  wandering  Peri,  all  our  best  and  purest 
shall  be  thine, — 

Thine  to  bear  from  earth  to  Heaven,  whose  white 

votaries  wait  to  prove 
Whether  we  in  truth  be  worthy  their  companionship 

and  love. 

II 

Ancient  Masters  of  the  spell 
Whose  commandment  cabalistic, 
Secret  words  and  symbols  mystic 

Did  the  viewless  Powers  compel, — 
Cleaving  all  the  air  with  flame, 

Till  your  charm-wrought  wonders  made, 

Star-forsaken  Night  afraid 
And  her  darkness  overcame ; — 

V\rhile  for  cloudless  suns  we  yearn 
Back  we  turn  our  wondering  eyes 
Where  the  spirit-peopled  skies 

With  your  fadeless  limnings  bum !   .  .  . 
Mythic  forms  and  fancies  scenic. 

Glowing  out  from  temple  shade ; 

Marching  host  and  cavalcade 
Of  the  stately  race  Hellenic ; 

King-built  barges  sea- ward  drifted ; 
Victims  cast  on  funeral  pyres; 
Chariots  hurled  through  battle-fires ; 

Faces  of  old  gods  uplifted ; 
Large-eyed  Aphrodites,  weeping 

Over  fairest  archers  killed. 

Fauns  with  forest-music  thrilled ; 
Nymphs,  on  crested  billows  sleeping ; 


[   205  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Royal  feasts  whose  rubied  flagons 
Foam  and  flash  with  draughts  of  hght ; 
White-maned  horses  winged  for  flight ; 

Golden-scaled  and  fire-eyed  dragons. 

Ill 

Thus  while  Athens  and  Ionia  to  their  bright  Ideals 
clung, 

Lo,  a  sudden  gust  from  Heaven,  down  the  snowy- 
manna  flung ! 

Prophet-led,  at  dawn,  the  murmuring,  tent-abiding 
multitude. 

In  the  wilderness,  up-gathered  bread  of  angels  for 
their  food. 

Love  Eternal,  dwelling  with  them,  desert  paths  im- 
paradised, 

With  the  sacred  sweetness  falling  from  the  hallowed  lips 
of  Christ. 

Then  the  sons  of  men,  awaking,  issued  from  their 

Pagan  dreams, 
As  from  glaciers  of  the  mountain  rush  to  life  the  happy 

streams ; 

And  the  hearts  of  men  were  melting,  throbbing  down  to 
holier  plains. 

Where  the  gentian-flower,  a-tremble,  felt  the  Summer 
in  its  veins. 

IV 

Watchers  for  millenial  light, 
Pallid  seers,  awake  from  slumber ! 
Ye  whose  forms  the  marbles  cumber, 

Move  before  our  mortal  sight. 


[    206  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Rising  from  your  martyr-homes 

In  the  secret  burial-halls, 

Where  your  faith  made  rich  the  walls 
Of  the  vaulted  catacombs ; 

Come  from  Tuscan  chapels,  faintly 
Glowing  in  the  taper's  blaze, 
Where  your  child-adorers  gaze, 

Rapt  from  earth  in  visions  saintly ; 
Calm  us  with  your  pure  Madonnas, 

Haloed  with  seraphic  fires  — 

While  the  shepherd-greeting  choirs 
Breathed  on  high  their  loud  hosannas ; 

Traitor  and  Evangelist  — 
Bid  them  gather  round  the  board 
Where  the  blood-red  wine  was  poured 

Of  the  blessed  Eucharist ; 
Shadow  forth  the  grief  and  loss 

Of  our  teacher,  meek  and  lowly ; — 

Paint  his  slumber  deep  and  holy  — 
Earthward  lifted  from  the  cross. 

Of  his  life's  renunciation. 
Move  us  with  the  tender  story. 
Help  us  comprehend  the  glory 

Of  his  white  transfiguration. 

V 

So  shall  die  the  dewless  blossoms  of  the  cavern-realm  of 
dreams. 

And  like  full  and  sun-fed  roses,  glow  with  life  Art's 
chosen  themes ; 

While  interpreters  of  Nature  search  for  Beauty's  living 
soul. 

Finding  more  than  light  and  color,  grace  and  grandeur 
in  the  whole, — 


[   207  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Even  as  the  Knights  Teutonic,  when  the  heart  and 

head  are  sick, — 
They  shall  ministrate  before  us,  till  our  dead  delights 

grow  quick. 

For  the  lightest  wind  that  murmurs  and  the  frailest 

leaf  that  waves 
Prove  the  proud  world  something  greater  than  inheritor 

of  graves. 

You  who  rightly  love  her,  yours  the  task  her  luminous 
life  to  seize, 

Paint  the  Spirit  breathing  in  her,  veiled  through  Infinite 
degrees. 

VI 

Yours  the  rugged  rock  to  smite  — 

Ours  to  quaff  the  precious  rain : 

Yours  to  climb  from  out  the  plain. 
Meeting  God  on  Horeb's  height. 

Yours  to  show  that  fruitage  ripe, 
Waving  flower  or  forest  green, 
In  some  realm  of  soul  unseen 

Hath  a  living  archetype. 
Catch  the  still,  electric  fires 

In  the  glance  of  star  and  moon 

(Faint  predictions  of  the  noon 
That  beneath  the  East  aspires !) ; — 

In  the  foam  upon  the  rocks. 
Like  the  sea-found  pearl  for  whiteness ; 
In  the  soft  and  billowy  brightness 

Of  the  ocean's  wandering  flocks ; 
In  the  steady  radiance  pure 

Where  the  shadowed  skies  are  paling : 

In  the  crimson  meteor,  trailing 


[   208  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Far  its  flaming  curvature ; 

In  the  pale  out-streaming  splendor, 
Of  the  haunted  Northern  coasts, 
Where  the  palaces  of  ghosts 

Rear  their  towers  and  turrets  slender. 

VII 

Dawn-like  Spirit,  on  the  mountains  fling  abroad  thy 

banners  white : 
Lo,  our  toil-worn  city-dwellers,  rise  rejoicing  at  the 

sight ! 

Flash  the  fire  of  suns  around  us,  blush  through  vapors 
golden-lined. 

To  our  souls  the  bloom  fore-shadow  of  the  Heaven 
they  yet  shall  find ; — 

All  that  sets  the  quick  brain  dreaming,  all  that  thrills 

the  throbbing  heart. 
All  that  proves  our  life  supernal, —  sets  us  from  the 

world  apart. 

Build  above  us  holy  chambers  like  the  Jewish  House 
of  old. 

Framed  with  olive-tree  and  cedar,  bright  with  lily-work 
and  gold ; — 

Base  and  chapiter  and  border,  graven  palm  and  molten 
sea, — 

With  pomegranates  for  a  promise  of  the  wondrous 
fruits  to  be. 

Amanda  T.  Jones. 


[  209  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


THE    NURSERY    OF  ARTS 
1868 

I  SING  a  lowly  song,  to-night, 
Of  homely  work  and  quiet  ways ; 

The  paths  that  common  men  may  tread ; 
The  life  made  up  of  common  days. 

More  worthy  that,  from  golden  throats 
Of  trumpets,  should  the  music  swell, 

Within  this  hallowed  gallery 

Where  Royalty  is  pleased  to  dwell. 

Here,  where  soft  lights  and  shadows  play 
And  noiseless  streams  forever  glide 

And  rocks,  with  tireless  waves  are  lashed 
And  ships  are  drifting  with  the  tide. 

Here,  where  ripe  fruit,  ungathered  hangs 
And  fields  await  the  mower's  sweep ; 

Storm-creviced  mountains,  changeless  stand, 
And  stars  their  faithful  vigils  keep. 

Without  the  working  world  is  still, 
The  laborer  rests  his  heavy  hand, 

The  children  sleep,  while  angels  watch. 
And  darkness  lulls  the  busy  land. 

Not  only  here  sweet  pictures  smile ; 

Along  the  wintry  wayside,  now 
They  look  from  wreaths  of  evergreen, 

From  curving  drift  and  barren  bough. 

Where  brooks  are  bound  in  silver  chains, 
And  forests  shake  their  beards  of  snow ; 

And  woodman  finds,  in  lonesome  glen, 
The  holly  and  the  mistletoe. 


[   210  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


The  plowman,  as  he  cleaves  the  turf, 
Is  king  of  realms  that  round  him  lie 

Within  the  slender  wedding  ring 

That  binds  the  earth  and  azure  sky. 

The  harvester,  in  summer  noons. 
Beneath  a  tent  of  trembling  leaves 

May  watch  the  languid,  nodding  grain, 
And  caravans  of  loaded  sheaves. 

Through  quivering  woodbine  lattice-work, 

Across  the  dairy  window  spun, 
The  housewife,  at  the  stirring  dawn 

May  welcome  in  the  rosy  sun. 

Beyond  the  winding  village  road. 
She  sees  the  pond  where  lilies  sleep. 

The  drooping  alder's  drifting  sedge ; 
The  hills,  where  giant  shadows  creep. 

The  whirr  of  busy,  hidden  mill. 

Comes  blithely  in  through  kitchen  door. 

Where  bustling  feet,  with  deftness,  thread 
The  mazes  of  the  snowy  floor. 

The  well,  beside  the  farmhouse  porch. 
To  downcast  eyes  a  picture  turns ; 

Reflecting  in  its  crystal  deeps 
A  frame  of  moss  and  lady-ferns. 

At  eventide,  the  wayfarer, 

Speeding  through  dusk  and  sweeping'^:storm. 
May  stay  his  hurrying  steps  to  look 

Within  some  fireside's  circle  warm. 


[   211  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


He  sees,  through  parted  drapery, 
The  shadows  of  Hthe  figures  sway ; 

The  toss  of  rippHng  golden  hair, 

Where  knots  of  merry  children  play. 

In  smothered  rows  of  crowded  streets, 
Where  swarms  of  fallen  mortals  hide, 

Some  flower  may  burst  its  prison  gates, 
And  in  a  mouldering  home  abide. 

He,  who  must  tread  his  toilsome  round, 
May  carve  his  life  in  lines  of  grace ; 

And,  in  the  margin  of  his  years, 
Illuminated  borders  trace. 

No  faith,  so  shadowed,  that  the  sun 
May  not  within  its  boundary  burn ; 

No  eyes  so  heavy,  but  may  still 
To  lofty  heights  their  vision  turn. 

Deep  in  the  heart,  like  tender  doves, 
That  bide  their  time  with  folded  wings, 

So  brood  our  hopes  above  the  nests 
Where  lie  the  germs  of  better  things. 

Hints  of  diviner  shapes  than  ours 
Upon  the  passive  canvas  gleam ; 

The  Master's  hand  may  only  paint 
A  dim  reflection  of  his  dream. 

The  sweetest  bells  that  ever  yet 
To  charmed  ears  their  music  flung. 

Are  but  the  echoes  of  the  chime 
Throughout  celestial  circles  rung. 


[   212  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


The  fairest  bow  that  ever  hath 

Broad,  smiHng  plains  of  verdure  spanned, 
Is,  to  our  wistful  captive  gaze, 

But  token  of  the  promised  land. 

Only  the  seeds  of  harvest  hoards 

Are  scattered,  broadcast,  far  and  near; 

Yet  in  each  narrow  cell  there  sleeps 
The  fullness  of  the  ripened  ear. 

As  in  clear  pools  serenely  lie 
Reflected  tints  of  blue  and  gold, 

So,  in  each  glimpse  of  Beauty  here 
We  see  the  perfect  life  unfold. 

Miss  Julia  H.  Forbes. 


THE    artist's  dream 

1870 

In  this  bright  temple,  where  so  oft  before 
We've  listened  to  the  scholar's  classic  lore. 
Where  poets  have  rehearsed  the  pleasant  story, 
Born  of  their  genius  and  the  artist's  glory. 
Once  more  we  gather  and  our  homage  pay 
To  the  fair  goddess  of  our  festal  day. 
Within  these  glowing  walls,  where  skillful  hands 
Have  gathered  memories  of  other  lands ; 
(Blessed  lands  which  art  and  poetry  enshrine 
And  nature's  fascinations  make  divine ;) 
'Twould  seem  no  words  were  needed  to  enhance 
The  charms  that  follow  every  passing  glance ; 
Here,  modern  art  its  rarest  gift  bestows ; 
There,  the  great  Titans  of  the  past  repose. 


[   213  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


In  counterparts  so  vivid  and  so  true, 
Another  world  seems  opened  to  our  view  — 
A  world  where  beauty  reigns  —  the  Sovereign 
Queen, 

Whom  to  be  worshiped  needs  but  to  be  seen. 
Her  throne  the  sacred  shrine  and  tomb  of  art, 
Fair  Italy,  the  Mecca  of  the  heart ; 
Where  every  nation  its  art-pilgrims  send. 
In  prayerful  homage  at  her  shrine  to  bend. 
We  may  be  pardoned,  then,  if  lacking  power 
To  add  one  treasure  to  its  sacred  dower, 
We  hush  our  voices,  as  on  holy  ground. 
And  say :  For  art's  true  story,  look  around ! 
Yet,  would  you  wile  the  passing  hour  away, 
By  listening  to  a  rhymer's  humble  lay, 
We  ask  your  patience  for  the  simple  theme 
That  we  have  woven  from  an  artist's  dream. 

Mrs.  S.  F.  Mixer. 


ART    THE  EVANGELIST 
1871 

Xo  Art,  our  mistress,  beautiful,  immortal. 
We  keep  our  yearly  festival  to-night. 

Let  all  who  enter  at  her  temple-portal 
Do  homage  to  her  might. 

Her  peaceful  victories  extend  through  ages. 
She  reigns  a  sceptred  queen  by  right  divine, 

The  great  ones  of  the  earth,  the  kings  and  sages, 
Bow  down  before  her  shrine ; 


[   214  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


The  savage  groping  blindly  for  the  beauty 
He  dimly  feels  but  cannot  understand, 

And  he  who  holds  it  for  his  dearest  duty 
To  serve  her  heart  and  hand ; 

For  these  she  has  such  various  compensations 
As  best  their  varying  service  may  requite. 

Author  she  is  of  many  consolations 
And  giver  of  delight. 

For  him  who  makes  his  sacrifice  completest, 
Who  leaves  all  else  for  her  alone  to  live, 

She  has  a  guerdon,  rarest,  finest,  sweetest. 
Of  all  the  world  can  give. 

She  lays  upon  his  eyes  the  gift  of  seeing 

Into  the  very  inmost  heart  of  things ; 
With  subtile  sympathies  pervades  his  being, — 

She  gives  his  spirit  wings. 

With  her  full  many  a  pleasant  path  he  traces, 
By  wood  and  field  and  sunny  summer  shore ; 

With  her  he  roams  through  solitary  places 
By  man  untrod  before. 

For  him  the  light  on  purple  mountains  gleaming. 
The  solemn  splendors  of  the  forest  deep ; 

For  him  the  ghostly  ice-fields  lie  a-dreaming 
In  an  enchanted  sleep. 

But  not  to  Nature  only  will  Art  lead  him, 
Lest  Nature  claim  him  for  herself  alone. 

With  dreams  of  Old  World  beauty  she  will  feed  him 
In  canvas  wrought  and  stone. 


[  215  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Hers  are  the  noblest  names  of  ancient  story  — 
The  painters,  poets,  sculptors  of  the  past  — 

Names  circled  with  an  aureole  of  glory- 
Through  centuries  to  last. 

For  Art  is  of  the  race  of  the  immortals, 

And  in  the  dawn  of  time  eons  afar, 
She  left  her  home  beyond  the  radiant  portals 

That  since  have  stood  ajar. 

She  left  her  home,  a  bright  consoling  angel, 
To  gladden  our  sad  world  with  her  fair  face ; 

She  brought  mankind  a  new  and  sweet  evangel, 
A  message  full  of  grace. 

And  well  that  gentle  message  has  been  given. 
Well  has  she  used  each  power  to  serve  and  bless ; 

To  make  men  worthier  of  their  future  heaven  — 
Their  future  happiness. 

When  music  stirs  the  inmost  depth  of  feeling, — 
When  sculpture  lifts  her  lovely,  pallid  form, — 

And  painting  all  her  glorious  hues  revealing. 
Life-like  and  rich  and  warm, — 

When  poesy  with  eager  eyes  pathetic 

Stands  on  the  border-land  of  sense  and  sight, 

And  with  strong  yearnings,  passionate,  prophetic, 
Looks  outward  through  the  night, — 

Whenever  man  with  earnest,  pure  endeavor. 
Has  sought  to  solve  the  mysteries  of  fate. 

Then  Art  has  stood  beside  him,  pointing  ever 
Toward  the  shining  gate. 

[   216  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Ah !  'tis  no  region  of  imagination 

To  which  she  looks  with  fixed  and  upward  eyes, 
But,  lighted  by  an  inward  revelation, 

The  land  of  paradise. 

And  he  who  follows  closest  to  her  leading 
Finds  in  the  future  lies  his  truest  life, 

And  tranquilly  beholds  this  world  receding, 
Its  toil  and  pain  and  strife. 

Men  say  he  dwells  apart  in  the  ideal, 
Feeding  on  dreams  and  vain  imaginings. 

But  what  they  call  delusive  and  unreal, 
Are  his  most  real  things. 

Ah !  well  it  is  for  our  poor  bare  existence, 
That  there  are  clearer  eyes  and  finer  ears 

To  catch  the  glories  of  the  purple  distance, 
The  music  of  the  spheres. 

And  well  that  to  our  duller  sense  translating 
The  burden  of  the  splendor  and  the  song. 

They  lift  our  souls  and  set  our  hearts  pulsating 
With  feelings  sweet  and  strong ; 

The  promise  of  a  joy  as  yet  ungiven, 

Bright  with  the  tender  radiance  of  the  skies ; 

A  joy  not  to  be  realized  till  heaven 
Breaks  on  our  raptured  eyes. 

Divinest  Art,  this  is  thy  gracious  mission. 

Thou  leadest  us  by  ways  we  have  not  known. 

Until  upon  the  golden  heights  Elysian, 
We  stand  before  God's  throne. 

Ellen  M.  Ferris. 


[  217  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


POEM 
1872 

Xread  lightly  with  unsandaled  feet, 

The  place  is  hallowed  here, 
We  come  to  consecrate  our  child 

In  its  decennial  year. 
This  hour  hath  breathings  of  its  own, 

They  come  from  every  clime 
Where  stone  or  canvas  had  portrayed 

The  tender  or  sublime. 

Our  Priestess,  Art,  is  standing  here, 

With  robes  as  pure  and  white 
As  when  we  brought  our  artist  child, 

Ten  years  ago  to-night. 
Baptismal  vows  were  uttered  then, 

And  sponsors  gave  the  name, 
And  from  the  altar  of  our  hearts. 

The  fragrant  incense  came. 

And  now  the  priestess  gently  smiles, 

"And  through  her  lips  of  air," 
She  breathes  them  o'er  and  o'er  again. 

Her  blessing  and  her  prayer. 
Her  blessing  on  those  kindly  hands. 

That  through  the  darkest  hours 
Wove  garments  for  the  trembling  child. 

And  crowned  its  brow  with  flowers. 

A  prayer  that  still  their  faith  and  hope 
Will  keep  them  weaving  on. 

Till  it  can  stand  in  broidered  hems, 
Its  robe  of  triumph  done ; 


[   218  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Till  it  can  yield  to  faithful  hearts 

The  joy  they  thus  have  given, 
By  tinging  every  form  of  earth 

With  softer  hues  from  heaven. 

O !  Mystic  Art,  in  thee  doth  blend 

The  earth-bom  and  Divine. 
We  know  not  whence,  or  what  thy  power, 

Yet  worship  at  thy  shrine. 
We  clothe  thee  in  a  woman's  form ; 

We  crown  thee  with  her  name ; 
And  though  the  ages  knew  not  why, 

They  called  and  knelt  the  same. 

Till  from  Judea's  vine-clad  hills 

This  heavenly  answer  stole, 
"  From  woman  must  be  born  to  man 

The  Saviour  of  the  soul." 
Prophetic  thought  had  thus  enshrined 

The  Mary  of  our  race ; 
And  moulded  its  divinest  dreams 

In  woman's  form  and  face. 

Then  tread  we  with  unsandaled  feet, — 

This  time  is  holy  now ; 
For  see,  the  starry  East  grows  bright, 

The  herald  angels  bow. 
The  Christmas  anthem  for  our  world 

Is  trembling  in  the  air. 
O !  may  it  steal  in  every  soul, 

And  find  an  answer  there. 

Miss  Matilda  H.  Stuart. 


[    219  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


THE  ARTIST 

Read  at  the  Annual  Opening  Buffalo  Fine  Arts  Academy, 
February  22,  1872. 

All  men  it  well  beseems  to  honor 
His  sacred  hands,  his  hallowed  head, 

Who  pours  for  them  the  wine  of  Beauty, 
And  breaks  for  them  her  bread ; 

For  he  that  from  his  pencil  rolls 
A  living  wave  of  genius  forth, 

Sets  free  the  shackled  heart  of  man 
And  teaches  it  its  worth. 

And  Freedom  then  is  at  her  fullest 
When  we  on  what  is  Fairest  look  — 

A  little  beam  of  Beauty's  splendor 
Purges  the  foulest  nook. 

Ah,  why  is  Nature,  in  our  need. 

Niggard  of  those  rich  spirits  grown, 

That  peopled  earth  with  heavenly  shapes 
On  canvas  or  in  stone ! 

No  more  the  Master's  hand  is  seen 
In  lofty  aisle  or  sculptured  hall ; 

No  more  the  Master's  fire  is  breathed 
Upon  the  storied  wall. 

Unto  an  unbelieving  race 

The  heavens  lay  not  their  glories  bare ; 
The  haughty  Muse  looks  coldly  down 

And  slights  their  feeble  prayer. 

Yet  to  the  large  and  loyal  soul 
She  can  be  kind  and  gracious  still ; 

The  heart  that  loves,  the  heart  that  dares, 
She  grants  it  all  it  will. 


[    220  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


He  sees  the  sweet  prints  of  her  feet 
That  leads  to  her  immortal  bowers ; 

Her  costly  favors  fall  like  rain, 
Shoot  thick  as  summer  flowers. 

The  magic  flow  of  Beauty's  curve 

No  cheap  dexterity  can  hit, 
And  things  of  grandeur  never  stoop 

To  grace  a  showman's  wit. 

O,  artist,  quit  thy  art  a  little, 

And  get  by  heart  the  solemn  rules 

That  Nature  writes  for  those  who  study 
In  her  eternal  schools. 

What  cunning  noose  shall  help  to  bind 
Graces  that  hover  and  are  gone, 

The  fleet  sweet  laughters  of  the  eve, 
The  meteor  splendors  of  the  dawn  ? 

How  snare  the  immortal  elf  that  rides 
Upon  the  dancing  surge  of  Forms, 

That  at  his  pleasures  lays  its  crests 
Or  scourges  it  with  storms  ? 

One  net  I  know  that  taketh  all. 
In  earth  below,  in  heaven  above, 

Of  softest  thread,  of  heavenly  wool  — 
It  is  the  net  of  Love. 

Who  hunts  on  Beauty's  lightning  trail 
Must  have  Love's  pinions  and  Love's 

Nothing  can  dodge  the  god ;  he  plucks 
His  quarry  from  the  topmost  skies. 


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ART    IN  BUFFALO 


The  artist  brave  shall  from  his  heart 
The  rags  of  worldly  wisdom  strip ; 

High  counselors  he  can  command, 
And  oracles  that  never  trip. 

When  heavens  are  bare  and  minds  are  dumb, 
And  worship  breathes  from  pole  to  pole, 

Then  comes  the  solemn  bridal  hour 
Of  nature  and  the  soul. 

The  morning  stars  shall  with  him  talk ; 

Beside  the  ocean's  thundering  rim, 
On  meadowy  plains,  on  mountain  side. 

He  learns  a  style  that  pleases  him. 

The  shapes  and  colors  of  the  sky, 
The  daily  lineaments  of  the  earth, 

Shall  soothe  and  medicine  his  eye, 
And  feed  his  heart  with  mirth. 

And  those  proud  shapes  of  Wise  and  Just 
That  make  their  temple  in  his  mind. 

Will  teach  his  hand,  till  every  stroke 
Shall  touch  the  conscience  of  mankind. 

God  painted  on  his  heart  the  lights 
And  shadows  of  the  mighty  Whole ; 

Be  then  the  hues  that  load  his  brush 
The  colors  of  his  soul. 

Meek  organ  of  the  All-Good,  All-Fair, 

He  listens  far  above  his  wit ; 
Not  his  is  what  he  paints  and  carves. 

He  doth  belong  to  it. 


[   222  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


The  dark  soul  of  humanity 

Breaks  into  life  and  light  through  his, 
Beholds  itself  and  knows  itself 

How  fair  a  thing  it  is. 

Ah,  ever  dear  to  all  men  born 

The  tints  that  brim  with  smiles  or  tears, 
Symbols  wherein  the  Muse  embalms 

Her  loves,  her  hopes,  her  fears ; 

And  dearer  to  the  Intellect 

The  plainer  artist's  grand  design, 

That  shows  the  austerity  of  Thought 
Clothed  in  the  naked  line. 

Yet  lines  and  colors  are  but  sparks 
Of  that  great  splendor  which  shall  be. 

Drops  from  the  awful  tides  that  flow 
Above  us  like  a  sea. 

Yea,  to  the  eyes  that  rightly  look 
Is  this  vast  round  of  stars  and  men 

But  a  sweet  rhyme,  a  passing  trope. 
Dropped  from  the  Eternal  Poet's  pen. 

Prof.  William  B.  Wright. 


FROM    CONSECRATION  TO 
CORONATION 
1876 

Xhere  was  a  youth  who  loved  with  perfect  love 
That  beautiful  Art-spirit,  whose  high  power 
Exalts  the  mortal  near  to  the  divine ; 


[   223  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


He,  nourishing  a  sweet  ideal  trust, 

That  wavered  not  through  lapse  of  many  days, 

Had  held  it  shrined  within  his  deepest  soul, 

And  ever  grasped  serener  aspiration ; 

Till,  wandering  lonely  in  the  silent  midnight, 

His  pale,  calm  face  bathed  by  the  lucid  star-beams, 

Thus  for  his  cherished  yearning  utterance  found: — 

"Hear  Thou  my  prayer,  O  spirit  of  Art! 

Divinest  one,  I  love  thee  well ; 
O,  from  my  heart  let  not  depart 

The  glory  of  thy  sacred  spell, 
And  ne'er  efface  thy  smile  of  grace, 

That  doth  me  now  so  strongly  quell ; 
Ah,  to  reveal  and  render  real. 

The  scenes  that  in  my  soul-dreams  dwell ! 

"  For  all  thy  strong  inspiring  charm 

Lures  me  to  scale  the  lofty  height ; 
Nor  would  I  calm  the  sweet  alarm 

That  leads  me  on  with  potent  might, 
But  give  to  hope  yet  wider  scope. 

And  toil  for  thee  with  worthier  right. 
Until  I  see  thy  majesty. 

In  realms  of  light  beyond  the  night. 

"Before  thee  now  to  consecrate, 

Mine  utmost  all  behold  I  bring ; 
Though  wrathful  fate  may  watch  and  wait. 

To  pierce  me  with  his  poisoned  sting, — 
O'er  every  ill  my  tireless  will 

Toward  the  stars  shall  upward  wing. 
Till  thou  accord  a  fit  reward 

And  bid  the  chimes  of  victory  ring." 


[    224  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


So  found  his  thought  a  fitting  voice, 

And  all  seemed  fair  as  waking  morn ; 
For  such  high  choice  might  well  rejoice 

The  soul  that  ne'er  had  tasted  scorn, 
And  never  scanned  that  cruel  brand 

The  priest  of  Art  so  oft  hath  worn, 
Since  first  the  great  Athenian's  hand 

Portrayed  the  Titan,  vulture-torn ! 

Strong  in  the  sense  of  granted  power, 

He  paused  not  in  his  chosen  quest, 
And  hour  by  hour  his  cherished  dower 

Seemed  yet  in  sweeter  splendor  dressed ; 
While  onward  far  one  guiding  star 

He  followed  long  with  eager  zest, 
And  naught  of  doubt  or  fear  could  mar 

The  steadfast  hope  that  filled  his  breast. 

In  bright  Italia's  storied  clime, — 

The  throne  of  Art  from  days  of  old, 
Whose  names  sublime  to  latest  time 

Shall  her  divinity  uphold  — 
The  spell  was  strong  to  charm  him  long 

Amid  the  memories  manifold, 
Of  Raphael's  fame,  and  many  a  name 

Tinged  with  immortal  rays  of  gold. 

At  last,  brave  soul,  thy  dream  must  fade, 

Before  the  stem,  defiant  real ! 
And  in  the  shade  ye  pause  dismayed. 

Wounded  and  torn,  with  naught  to  heal. 
O  cruel  world,  thy  scorn  was  hurled 

Against  his  eloquent  appeal ; 
And  friendship  fled  when  round  him  spread 

The  mist  of  poverty's  ordeal ! 


[   225  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Bereft  of  hope,  he  loved  no  less 

Celestial  Art  to  glorify; 
Through  all  distress  her  sweet  caress 

Could  dry  the  tear,  and  still  the  sigh ; 
That  loving  care  had  quelled  despair, 

Until  he  knew  that  rest  was  nigh, 
And  tender  faith  made  solemn  death 

A  guide  to  joys  that  never  die. 

The  end  was  near ;  past  earthly  need, 

He  spoke  with  slow  and  trembling  breath : — 
**  I  thought  indeed  to  gain  the  meed 

That  seemed  so  near  to  youthful  faith ; 
Still  am  I  thine,  O  Art  divine ! 

Thee  still  my  spirit  honoreth ; 
Cold  Poverty,  I  loved  not  thee. 

Nor  asked  I  aught  of  thee,  O  Death!" 

So,  steadfast  to  his  vow,  the  artist  died. 

And  all  his  toil  seemed  wasted  and  in  vain. 

But  high  above  the  lofty  realm  of  stars, 

I  dreamed  his  soul  had  gained  the  larger  life ; 

And  countless  shining  hosts  about  him  thronged, 

And  one  who  seemed  their  master  spoke  and  said : — 

"  0  brother,  thou  hast  toiled  upon  the  earth 

For  what  ye  deemed  most  beautiful  and  pure ; 

Therefore  I  crown  ye  to  eternal  joy." 

And  then  a  grand  triumphal  anthem  rose  — 

A  mighty  blending  of  seraphic  voices, — 

And  the  tired  soul  was  soothed  with  rapturous  peace. 

O  for  strong  faith  to  know  and  never  doubt. 
That  he  who  toils  to  beautify  the  world, 
And  glorify  the  might  of  human  thought. 
Shall  surely  gain  a  large,  complete  reward. 

[   226  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


And  though  the  world  yield  him  but  cold  derision, 
And  count  as  vain  each  lofty  aspiration, 
Yet  after-times  shall  see  with  clearer  vision 
That  he  attained  the  meed  of  coronation. 

Arthur  W.  Austin. 


A    VILLAGE  RAPHAEL 
1882 

A  QUEER  old  studio,  trim  as  though 
A  Puritan  maid  had  left  it  so ! 
No  travel-spoils  of  tunic  and  pearls 
Grace  it  with  shapes  of  fair  Roman  girls. 

No  dancing  zone  of  Indian  bells 
The  languid  rhythm  of  brown  feet  tells. 
And  no  Persian  lamp  on  silver  chains 
Swings  a  perfumed  spark  as  daylight  wanes. 

To  the  art  of  living  dedicate, 
The  artist's  cupboard  keeps  homely  state 
Hard  by  the  easel,  its  household  ware 
Bright  with  an  un-Bohemian  care. 

When  its  shelves  are  bare  a  loaf  will  stray 
From  Betty's  oven  over  the  way, — 
Old  Betty,  who  finds  her  simple  good 
In  thoughts  of  him,  as  in  maidenhood. 

Eating  the  bread  that  the  raven  brings, 
We  dream  of  what  the  nightingale  sings : 
As  he  breaks  the  loaf,  the  artist's  grace 
Is  debtor  far  more  to  the  glowing  face, 


[   227  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Whose  mirthful  eyes  and  half-tender  smile 

From  Sully's  canvas  he  stole  erewhile. 

For  many  a  year  the  lonely  room 

Has  borrowed  spring  from  its  changeless  bloom. 

Smile  not,  my  masters  of  palette  and  brush, — 
Cold  though  his  canvas,  a  boyish  flush 
Glows  in  the  wrinkles  of  sixty  years. 
Old  Dobbin's  whinny  is  in  his  ears; 

Once  more  the  plough  in  its  furrow  stands. 
Sulkily  held  by  small  sun-burned  hands ; 
The  twinkling  leaves  of  the  popple  there 
Twirl  on  their  stems  in  the  quiet  air. 

And  dreaming  in  light  half  green,  half  gold, 
The  slender  beeches  their  secret  hold ; 
But  the  atmosphere  of  that  early  morn 
Is  only  in  that  old  heart  re-born : 

The  red  of  the  clover,  not  its  flush, 
The  green  of  the  forest,  not  its  hush. 
His  canvas  shows,  and  those  solid  skies 
Were  never  the  way  to  Paradise. 

Ah !  well, —  that  worship  so  clear  of  blame, 
Self-fed  and  pure  as  a  Vestal  flame. 
Will  one  day  cease,  like  a  lonely  spark 
That  slips  unnoted  into  the  dark. 

The  pitiless  Beauty  of  the  earth 
Will  smile  as  once  it  smiled  on  its  birth ; 
For  the  ebbing  life  no  shade  will  fall 
O'er  the  heedless  Beauty  on  the  wall. 

[   228  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Yet  their  lover's  soul,  not  all  unblest, 
Shall  pass  from  its  futile  dreams  to  rest. 
His  fading  eyes,  as  to  holy  rood. 
Will  turn  to  that  shade  of  womanhood. 

The  fair  young  hands  from  their  careless  calm 
Will  seem  to  stir,  and  a  living  palm 
On  the  failing  pulse  its  warmth  will  place. 
And  touch  like  a  rose-leaf  the  worn  face. 

The  blind,  poor  Betty,  will  not  divine 
That  the  tender  palm  is  only  thine, 
Roughened  by  toil,  yet  with  rose-leaf  touch — 
So  light  is  the  hand  that  loveth  much. 

Annie  R.  Annan. 


THE    DANCING  FAUN 
1887 
I 

When  Time  unswathed  the  ashen  winding  sheet 
That  wrapped  Pompeii,  city  of  the  dead. 

And  once  again  the  Southern  azure  shed 
Its  light  through  ruined  court  and  empty  street, 

Lo !    From  the  darkness,  where  no  human  tread 
Had  echoed  for  a  score  of  centuries. 

Appeared  a  multitude  of  gracious  shapes, 
A  pageant  of  the  long  lost  deities, — 

Hermes  and  Pan,  and  Bacchus  crowned  with  grapes. 
And  all  the  pleasant  demigods  and  fauns 
Who  thronged  the  woods  and  kept  the  fountains  pure. 

II 

They  could  not  die ;  no  fear  of  time  had  they, 
For  they  were  born  of  Art,  and  must  endure 

[   229  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


Whilst  Art  should  live.    The  city  stricken  lay 

About  them,  yet  they  took  no  note  nor  care 
Of  unseen  evenings  or  of  darkened  dawns ; 

In  passing  years  they  had  no  place,  no  part, 
Until  at  last  the  soft  Italian  day 

Peered  in  upon  them  standing  silent  there, 

Divine  in  the  divinity  of  Art. 

And  one  there  was,  a  faun,  among  the  throng, 
With  limbs  forever  leaping  into  dance. 
With  head  flung  back,  as  though  he  heard,  perchance, 

The  far-ofE  echo  of  some  lost  Greek  song. 

Ill 

Thou  dancer  of  two  thousand  years, 

Thou  dancer  of  to-day, 
What  silent  music  fills  thine  ears, 

What  Bacchic  lay, 
That  thou  shouldst  dance  the  centuries 

Down  their  forgotten  way? 

What  mystic  strain  of  pagan  mirth 

Has  charmed  eternally 
Those  lithe  strong  limbs  that  spurn  the  earth  ? 

What  melody, 
Unheard  of  men,  has  Father  Pan 

Left  lingering  with  thee  ? 

Ah !  where  is  now  the  wanton  throng 

That  round  thee  used  to  meet  ? 
On  dead  lips  died  the  drinking  song. 

But  wild  and  sweet, 
What  silent  music  urged  thee  on, 

To  its  unuttered  beat, 


[   230  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


That  when  at  last  Time's  weary  will 

Brought  thee  again  to  sight, 
Thou  cam'st  forth  dancing,  dancing  still 

Into  the  light, 
Unwearied  from  the  murk  and  dusk 

Of  centuries  of  night  ? 

Alas  for  thee !  —  Alas  again, 

The  early  faith  is  gone ! 
The  Gods  are  no  more  seen  of  men, 

All,  all  are  gone ; 
The  shaggy  forests  no  more  shield 

The  Satyr  and  the  Faun. 

On  Attic  slopes  the  bee  still  hums, 

On  many  an  Elian  hill 
The  wild-grape  swells,  but  never  comes 

The  distant  trill 
Of  reedy  flutes,  for  Pan  is  dead. 

Broken  his  pipes  and  still. 

And  yet  within  thy  listening  ears 

The  pagan  measures  ring ; 
Those  limbs  that  have  outdanced  the  years 

Yet  tireless  spring. 
How  canst  thou  dream  Pan  dead,  when  still 

Thou  seem'st  to  hear  him  sing? 

IV 

Thou  gracious  Art,  whose  creatures  do  not  die. 
We  too  have  heard  the  far-off  magic  song ; 
We  too  have  caught  the  spirit  of  the  long 

Soft  Southern  days  and  sheen  of  sapphire  sky. 


[   231  ] 


ART    IN  BUFFALO 


And  thus  we  listen,  like  the  dancing  faun, 
We  in  our  distant  New  World  haunts,  and  hear 
Thy  music  nearer  coming,  and  more  near, 

And  feel  the  promise  of  thy  brightening  dawn. 

Robert  Cameron  Rogers. 


FAREWELL     TO  ART* 

My  years  are  many,  and  my  course  near  run, 
My  palette  laid  to  rest  —  my  work  is  done. 
Farewell,  dear  Art,  farewell  my  dream  of  youth, 
I  sought  with  thee  but  to  reveal  the  truth. 
I  know  that  I  have  failed, —  as  all  must  fail 
Who  aim  too  high,  with  power  all  too  frail. 
To  bend  Apollo's  bow,  or  tune  his  lyre, 
Or  lack  the  new-birth  of  immortal  fire. 
But  dim  my  vision,  and  my  hearing  dull. 
The  art  I  loved,  of  which  my  soul  was  full. 
Is  cherished  still,  and  fills  my  fading  day 
With  forms  of  beauty,  and  bright  color-play. 
And  though  my  earthly  life  draws  to  its  close, 
I  cannot  keep  sad  thoughts,  or  be  morose. 
For  I  have  friends  to  love,  friends  that  love  me. 
Friends,  too,  beyond  the  grave  —  the  spirit  free. 
The  lofty  aims  my  mortal  limit  bars 
I  hope  to  reach  when  far  beyond  the  stars. 

Lars  G.  Sellstedt. 

*  These  lines  were  read  at  the  last  annual  meeting  of  the  National 
Academy  of  Design  in  New  York,  May  12,  1910.  The  Sun  in  its 
accoimt  said :  "  John  W.  Alexander  presided,  and  during  the 
dinner  read  a  poem  from  Lars  Gustav  Sellstedt,  National 
Academy,  of  Buffalo,  the  oldest  member  of  the  Academy.  Sell- 
stedt is  ninety-one  years  old.  This  is  the  first  annual  dinner  he 
has  missed  since  he  was  elected  an  Academician." 


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